Naruto: Reborn
by nightbeforedawn
Summary: Naruto was kidnapped by a mysterious ninja when he was 8. 4 years later, he is back, but with big changes. How will the new Naruto affect the Konoha and what lies ahead for the new Naruto? Rated T for future contents.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first fanfic. You are going to see a completely different Naruto in this story. This story is dedicated to one of my friends who is a die-hard fan of Naruto and couldn't contain his excitement when the Naruto-II's first chapter got released.**

**Anyways, without further adieu, here is the first chapter**

** Chapter 1: Naruto Returns**

It had been 4 years.

It was one of those quite, dark nights in Konoha 4 years ago when that awful incident happened.

So it came as a huge relief as well as surprise to 3rd Hokage when an ANBU brought him the message.

"May I enter Hokage-sama?" asked ANBU

"Enter" replied Sarutobi without even caring to look at the visitor.

ANBU came inside and bowed to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, Izumo and Kotetsu had sent a top priority message from their mission in Land of Waterfalls."

That gained the attention of Sarutobi. After all, no such top-priority message comes from Chunins attempting a C-rank mission. Besides, every top-priority message usually brings bad news of death or mission failures.

"So what does the message say?" Sarutobi asked, counting for the worst news possible.

The ANBU took a deep breath before he replied.

"Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-tailed Jinchuriki, has been found!"

-X-

At present, 3rd Hokage was standing on the terrace of his office building looking at the gate of the village. It had been 2 weeks since he got the news he had been dying to hear for last 4 years. Without any further delay, a 'Naruto Rescue team' was dispatched, consisting of the best medical-nins of Konoha and 4 of his trustworthy ANBU, to the Land of Waterfalls.

From the last message he received yesterday from the rescue team, Naruto is OK and they will most likely return today morning. To say that Sarutobi was relieved by the message would be an understatement. Only he knew better about how he felt when he learned that his grandson like kid was alive and good. Just thinking about that night when Naruto disappeared was painful.

He still remembers when he was forced to wake up due to the loud noises and banging of doors outside his residence. And that's when he was informed that the village is at war. Some ninjas which were classified as S-class criminals had invaded the village. So Sarutobi too joined the fight and all of them were killed in a few hours. But the real shock came when it was realized that they were all under some Genjutsu. And after some quick checking, it was found that Naruto was missing. Even more, the condition inside the apartment clearly showed signs of struggle. So it was finally deduced that the attack of S-class criminals was just a distraction and the real purpose was to kidnap the Nine-tailed Jinchuriki.

And with that began a mini-war to find Naruto. At first, Sarutobi suspected that it might be the work of same masked man who was responsible for Kyuubi's attack on village 7 years ago, but it was quickly dismissed when one of the informers told that a person was seen on the border of fire country whose description matches with the person Sarutobi told. So it was sure that even criminals are looking for Nine-tailed Jinchuriki.

All the 5 great nations and other villages also sent their teams in search of the Jinchuriki, each wanting to capture the Kyuubi for them. Battles happened when 2 teams of different village encountered each other. This continued for more than 2 years. Hundreds of shinobi were dead and political tensions were on peak. After 2 years, slowly bit-by-bit, the search team lost all hopes and mission was abandoned. Even Sarutobi himself went all over the Fire Country in search of Naruto. But Naruto was nowhere to be found. Not a single clue was available of the kid. So finally, with a heavy heart, Sarutobi had to mark Naruto as dead. Though the search missions were never stopped by Sarutobi, the officials and Elders started calling back the teams.

And when even the Hokage had lost all hope, Naruto was found.

Sarutobi was interrupted when an ANBU landed on the terrace behind him.

"Hokage-sama, the Naruto rescue team has arrived. What are the orders?" ANBU asked bowing to Hokage.

"Where are they headed?" Sarutobi asked, releasing some smoke from his cigar.

"To the hospital"

"Very well, Tell another 2 of the ANBU to guard Naruto's quarter, while you four may go and rest. You are dismissed."

"Yes sir"

With that the ANBU left.

"Finally… Now I suppose it's time I do some work.

-XXXXXXXX-

**That brings an end to the first chapter. I know it's pretty short but I am working on future chapters and hope to bring longer chapters soon. Till then, it's a good bye from NBD. Please review. See ya!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I am back and as I promised, this chapter is twice as long as first chapter. This chapter is dedicated to all the victims of earthquake in Nepal and India. Even I felt slight tremors miles away from the spot.**

**So guys I have a request. If you can, please help the victims by any means possible.**

**I would like to thank**

**revan-12**

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**Revisions**

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**Berna45 for following and favorite me and this story.**

**And special thanks to LadyEudave05 and Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night for their reviews. I am glad you liked this story.**

**Now without further adieu, here is the second chapter of this story. Please ignore any grammatical errors. Enjoy!**

** Chapter 2: Reborn**

Some hours later, Sarutobi, Izumo, Kotetsu and Ryujin were sitting in the Hokage's office discussing about Naruto.

"So Ryujin, how is Naruto? In your letter you just mentioned that Naruto has to be operated. You didn't mention the details. So let's hear the remaining part" Sarutobi said while leaning his hands on the table.

Ryujin was one of the senior medical-nins of Konoha. He was the leader of Naruto rescue team. He was a tall figure with slightly lean body having long dirty blonde hairs and oval framed glasses.

"Well, Hokage-sama," Ryujin began with a sigh "The condition in which we found that kid was simply horrible. You should see this picture of Naruto."

When Sarutobi saw the picture, he was sure that he would show no mercy to the culprit. Sarutobi had no idea what motivated him to carefully see the picture in his hand. In the picture, Naruto was crisp burnt. The blood around him had either turned black or simply evaporated. In short, Naruto was completely unrecognizable.

"That was when we found the kid. I sway; never in my life had I seen such a tattered body. At such condition, he should have been probably dead. But he was alive. I wonder how Izumo and Kotetsu might have recognized him. More than 80% of his skin was burnt. Only flesh and bones were visible. Esp. his face, except for eyes, I could only see bones and dried blood on his face. Not even a hair was present on his body. I must say, I truly miss Tsunade-sama in these moments. May god bless this child; it was actually Kyuubi's chakra that was keeping him alive. I am sure that I felt my hands shivering when I started treating him. For once, I almost thought that he is dead."

Ryujin stopped for wiping his glasses and eyes as they got wet after such horrific illustration.

Sarutobi nodded in understanding. He then turned towards Chunin duo. "How did you find Naruto?"

Izumo began the explanation. "Actually after the completion of our mission to deliver the scrolls to the Monk of Land of Waterfalls, we were just talking to our client when suddenly one of our Ninja dogs started acting weirdly as if he was sensing something around us and then he suddenly went off towards the outskirts of the village. We rushed trying to stop our dog but it was useless. We just had to follow the dog. And then running for about half an hour, the dog led us to a wasteland outside the forest and among the loads of waste and rubble, Naruto 's body was lying there." Izumo finished obviously not pleased with remembering such brutal incident.

"Strange" Ryujin commented "I never heard Ninja dogs acting that weirdly. Could it be some jutsu?"

Sarutobi just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to focus on loops and holes in Naruto's discovery…for now.

"So how did you recognize the Naruto?" Sarutobi asked though he too wasn't comfortable with this topic.

"2 things" Kotetsu spoke up when Izumo didn't seem to reply. "First, a very faint seal visible on Naruto's abdomen which we recognized as 4th's seal and another, was the leaf symbol drawn on his right palm. And rest was all confirmed by the medical team.

Sarutobi sighed after listening.

'_So it was just a lucky incident that Naruto was discovered._'

He wanted to ask some more questions but they seemed to be in bad shape after going through 2 weeks of sleepless nights guarding and protecting Naruto.

"I think Naruto was caught in a blast while escaping." Izumo suggested.

Ryujin shook his head. "I have checked him properly and the wound on his body was almost 2 weeks old. He had been in that condition for at least 2 weeks."

Sarutobi nodded in understanding. "One final question: Anything unusual when you were guarding Naruto's room?"

"Nothing out of ordinary, everything was completely normal."

"Very well, you are dismissed. Go and get some good rest. You definitely need some break." Sarutobi said.

"Yes sir"

Now Sarutobi turned his attention on Ryujin. "What about Kyuubi? Was the seal OK?"

Ryujin hesitated a bit before answering "That's what is bothering me Hokage-sama"

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at this statement "Explain!"

"I have checked the seal and demon and what's surprising is these 4 years since the Naruto was kidnapped, NEITHER THE SEAL NOR THE KYUUBI WAS TAMPERED WITH.

"WHAT!" Sarutobi asked his attention now on top level.

"Yes Hokage-sama, as strange as it may sound, but the seal and Kyuubi's chakra was untouched. I even asked one of the ANBU who knew some of the mind transfer techniques to try it on Naruto and he too confirmed that the beast is still sleeping inside him."

"If that's the case, then why Naruto would be kidnapped?" came the obvious question from Sarutobi.

"No idea, there is no clear reason behind this kidnapping. So I would go ahead and assume that Naruto was able to escape his kidnappers before anything happened." Ryujin concluded.

"So should I deduce that apart from his physical condition, no other harm had occurred to Naruto?" Sarutobi asked.

"Not exactly Hokage-sama" Ryujin adjusted his glasses "Precisely, Naruto's memory is sort of blurred."

"What do you mean?"

"His memory about village, people and everything related is weak but I am considering that this might be due to the heavy damage he took. For now, I told Iruka to take care of that kid. I met him when we were taking Naruto to hospital and he was glad to help."

"I see. I think I will pay him a visit at evening."

"Of course Hokage-sama, you should pay him a visit. I think you would love to see a little version of Mummy." Ryujin chuckled

Even Sarutobi smiled on imagining Naruto covered in bandages from top to bottom.

"So what do you say Ryujin? How long will he take to recover completely?" Sarutobi asked.

"Hmmm…usually it would take 4-5 months at least after such condition, but with our best efforts and Kyuubi's chakra aiding in his recovery, he should be good in a month." Ryujin estimated the condition.

"Alright, now I suppose I have troubled you enough. Please take your time and rest well and thanks once again for saving Naruto." Sarutobi stood up.

"Oh no, that was nothing Hokage-sama" Ryujin waved his hand non-chantey. "Now I suppose you would be having some important issues to take care of, so I take my leave"

Ryujin bowed once again and exited the office.

Sarutobi leaned back on his chair and sighed.

"One month huh…That just means he would be able to attend last of his academy days. I have to pay him a visit to see the recovery myself."

-X-

Naruto opened his eyes after a short nap. It was about an hour since Iruka sensei left. And thanks to him he just got a short summary of his life and village.

Naruto slowly bent his head towards the left to see 2 bouquets on the table. He slowly sits up without applying any pressure over the bandages. One of them was from Kiba, Shikamaru &amp; Choji and another one was from Hinata.

Thanks to the photo album which Iruka sensei showed him when he was awake, he recognized all of them. He didn't pretty much remember their faces but he knew that they were all good friends.

He looked outside the window where he could see sunset. Naruto found it really beautiful. He never saw the light in last 4 years when he was kidnapped. So when he opened his eyes this morning, he thought that he was in a dreamland. It took a while for him to confirm that its reality. Since then, he was watching everything around him keenly as if everything holds a certain meaning for him.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on the door. As he turned to look at door, Sarutobi entered the room.

Naruto noticed that the old man was wearing a cloak and a big cap. When the words were visible, there was no doubt who the man was.

"How are you Naruto?" Sarutobi asked.

"I am fine. Thank you for your concern Hokage-sama" Naruto replied.

Sarutobi noted the change in Naruto's voice. Usually, he would just stand up and shout over him calling Sarutobi 'Old man' or 'Jiji-san'. Now his voice doesn't contain the cheerfulness and careless attitude. He is talking too maturely for his age as if a meeting was going on.

"Naruto, do you remember me? Do you remember how you always ended up at my office?" Sarutobi asked hoping that Naruto remember something.

"Nothing much, but I do remember that you were like a grandfather to me, and sometimes I would just drop by your house for sleeping or talking." Naruto said rubbing his forehead and remembering whatever little memories he had.

"What about the village? You remember this village?"

"Well, all I could remember is that I am 'not so popular' in this village." Naruto said sarcastically.

Sarutobi shook his head in disappointment. This was the last thing he wanted Naruto to remember.

"What about your kidnapper? You remember his face?"

"No. he usually covered my eyes when he was around. All I remember is eyes as cold as those of snake. Those eyes were the most frightening thing I saw. Those eyes haunt me in my dreams every time I go to sleep. I was his experiment. He always referred me with this name." Naruto said in a deep voice filled with hate.

Sarutobi nodded in understanding as silence spread between them. Sarutobi decided that he shouldn't force him to tell. It was well too scary for him. He would better investigate this case by himself.

"Alright then, I should take my leave. The Medical-nins informed me that it was about time for your medicine. Take care, Naruto."

Naruto nodded "Thanks for your visit, Hokage-sama"

"_Once again Hokage-sama, this isn't taking near."_ Sarutobi thought one last thing before leaving "Naruto, do you feel better after returning home?"

Naruto thought for a moment and Sarutobi glanced at his body where everything except his eyes is completely draped in thick bandages.

"It feels like I am REBORN!" Naruto replied.

Sarutobi smiled slightly as he left the room. "So he didn't deny that he feel better. Reborn…. I wonder what he meant by that."

-X-

**That brings an end to second chapter of this story. I hope you liked it. Most probably, 3rd chapter will be posted by next week. But I think it would be a bit shorter in comparison to this chapter.**

**So until I return with a new chapter, it's a good bye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I am back. I am myself surprised that I managed to submit 3 chapters in 3 days. That's really marvelous. This chapter is dedicated to all the readers. This chapter is a bit out of the genre and Naruto too is out of the character I was planning, but still it's worth writing. Moving to the acknowledgements:**

**I would like to sincerely thank:**

**MewRose**

**Lord-sessy012**

**Ghaun Knifeblade**

**Primo4**

**maddy madhatter**

**Chischi**

**tablo23**

**for following and favorite me and this story. And special thanks to:**

**ewaa**

**Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night**

**LadyEudave05**

** .92754397 for their reviews. I am glad you liked the story so far.**

**Now without any further adieu, here is the third chapter of the story. Ignore any grammatical errors. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Sneaking out**

A month quickly passed by and Naruto had almost recovered. Unexpectedly, Naruto, after recovery, was different than the Naruto everyone knew. Other than becoming much more mature, Naruto had also changed physically. His new hairs were a darker shade of blonde and further his trademark whiskers were gone. As for attitude, Naruto looked calm and composite as contrary to his carefree and prankster attitude and most surprisingly he had developed love for books. Iruka gave him some academy books so that Naruto stays in touch with academy when he returns there. Other than that, Naruto used to sneak out quietly to train when hospital staff was not present.

It was morning time in Konoha. He took his medicines and was having his breakfast which contained cereals and milk. It was then he heard sounds in the gallery. Naruto looked at the clock and understood that the visiting hours had begun.

Kiba, Choji or Shikamaru were the usual guys who visited Naruto during this month. Each one of them had different reasons. Kiba came just to irritate Naruto and play pranks on him though he failed miserably since he took Naruto to be some sick guy who can't even stand properly; Shikamaru came just because he found the Academy a big boring thing and spent hours talking about various things from 'the games they used to play when Naruto was still around' to 'how big jerk their classmates are', Choji was the most regular one since Naruto shared food, chocolates, fruits and other edibles which Iruka sensei or other peoples brought for him when they visited him. Choji was the one who informed him about whatever happened in the village and helped Naruto recover most of his memory. Hinata too visited sometimes but most of the time she would stand there nervously and play with her fingers. Naruto guessed her to be a kind-heart but extremely shy girl. She brought him hand-made foods from her house, which usually was consumed by Choji the next time he visited.

Apart from them, Iruka and Hokage too paid visits at evening and would take updates on his memory recovery. By the end of the month, Naruto had recovered most of his memory but still some parts were missing. But it wasn't a concern as he might remember those parts when he would be out of hospital.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door. A nurse peeped out of the door.

"Naruto, you have a visitor. Are you decent?" the nurse asked

Naruto nodded and prepared himself for whoever showed up to meet him. The nurse exited the room and seconds later, the visitor came in.

To Naruto's surprise, with a bouquet in hands and scowl on face, Ino entered the room.

"Well good morning Naruto" Ino grunted as she put the bouquet on the table along with a greeting card. "You look fine."

"A very good morning to you too Ino-san and yeah, I am fine now" calmly stated Naruto as he finished his breakfast. "I never expected that you would be visiting."

"I never wanted to come but that Shikamaru just showed up today morning and told me to deliver a bouquet for you since you will be out soon and he never brought you anything. They are too troublesome." Ino said mostly blabbering to herself.

"I apologize on the behalf of them and appreciate your visit. But honestly, I didn't knew that you even do home deliveries" Naruto said and stood up to wash his hands as a nurse came to pick his plate.

"Hey, this is not home delivery and I didn't have any choice." Ino shot back.

"I see. Anyways, it was nice of you to drop by." Thanked Naruto.

"Oh…Umm…sure, Alright, Have a good day" Ino was clearly flustered with such talks full of gratitude from someone who was the loudest mouth in making fun of others.

Just when she was about to exit the room she noticed Naruto was not in his bed. She looked around but saw him missing. She then noticed the open window. She looked down and noticed Naruto making his way down through a tree.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ino shouted from above as she too jumped down.

Naruto looked surprised as Ino too followed him down.

"You were still there? I thought you were going home" Naruto asked.

"I was… but then you were foolish enough to jump from first floor and I had to make sure that you are alright." Ino crossed her arms.

"Thanks for the concern. Now as you can see I am fine, so how about going home?" Naruto replied with slight anger.

"What about you? Aren't you supposed to be in bed? You would be in trouble if someone checks up and find you missing."

"Nobody is going to check out till lunch time. I know their timings well enough. Now please excuse me and leave" Naruto pointed her to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ino stopped Naruto by shouting to him.

"Market, I need some clothes to leave the hospital and I have none." Naruto turned around to answer Ino.

"Clothes! Where are your old ones?"

"Too short to wear outside"

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Ino shouted.

"I suppose you are the one who told that you never wanted to come and found it troublesome" Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah but… that was different…I thought I am a delivery girl…and…ugh you are changing the topic" Ino put an accusing finger towards Naruto.

"Whatever, I don't need your help. I can do this on my own." Naruto turned again and rushed towards the market.

"So I suppose you know the shops belonging to gent's clothes." Ino smirked when Naruto stopped in his tracks. "You don't have whole day to figure out shops. Am I right?"

When Naruto didn't replied, Ino took that as Yes.

Ino sighed "Alright, I will help you this time. Come on follow me, we have to make this quick."

-X-

"Hello Miss Yamanaka, how may I help you?" the owner of the shop asked Ino.

"Actually I am here to buy some clothes for my…cousin" Ino points at Naruto.

"That's fine but…why is he covered completely in a blanket?" The owner pointed out.

Naruto was standing completely draped in a red blanket. He was standing out and caught everyone's eyes which made Naruto grumble and uneasy for most of the walk to shop.

"Oh well…" Ino scratched her head in search of a good excuse "You see…he is feeling a bit cold and therefore he covered himself with a blanket."

Naruto grumbled still covered with blanket _"Great! That's the best excuse she can think of. Now she had raised the doubts of this person. I could have been better without this girl." _

"Oh! Will he be OK? Should I assist you in your shopping?" The owner asked clearly showing his concern.

"_This man actually believed her! What a moron!"_

"Thank you but I will manage. Thanks for offering help though" Ino said as she went inside the shop with Naruto following her.

Ino picked lots of dresses and returned to Naruto.

"What the hell! I didn't ask for so many clothes." Naruto silently cursed.

"Shut up! Not all these dresses are for you. We need to select only few of them. Now be a good boy and try these dresses one by one so that I can choose which clothes suits you"

Naruto wanted to protest but Ino's statement left no place for argument.

"Whatever! Fine" Naruto stood up and picked a random shirt and pant to try.

"Hey, what are you doing? Don't you have any fashion sense?"

Naruto merely raised his eyebrows.

"OK. Since this can't be helped, so I will pair up the dresses for you. Now…take this T-shirt and pant. Hurry up"

Ino turned Naruto into her testing doll, trying all sorts of dresses and pairings on him.

After more than an hour, Ino was finally satisfied much to Naruto's relief. Her choice was dark brown pants, Grey T-shirt and a black hooded jacket with 2 dark blue lines running across each sleeve.

"Now that looks better. This will suit you perfectly…and don't you think about paying for it." Ino glared as Naruto tried finding his purse.

"These are my clothes and it's not like I am short on money or something like…CRAP!" Naruto immediately turned panic.

Ino turned behind to see Iruka entering the store.

"If he saw me here, I am in big trouble. They might extend my hospital stay if Iruka sensei saw me and complained to hospital staff." Naruto was sweating now due to tension.

"Don't worry…we can quietly sneak out. Just follow me smoothly." Ino too was worried for herself since she would obviously be blamed for assisting Naruto if he was caught.

Meanwhile, Iruka was busy looking for a gift to give to Naruto.

"_Naruto loved ramen over everything else, but he won't be able to eat ramen until his medications are over. So…what could I bring for Naruto?"_

Just when he was about to go to next shelf, he saw a glimpse of Ino and a certain boy covered in blanket quietly sneaking out of store.

"Ino" Iruka called the blonde girl who was nervously standing as soon as she saw him.

"Iruka sensei" Now the girl was clearly sweating and shaking as he came near her.

"Hello Ino, what are you doing here? Did you come here to buy gifts?" Iruka asked.

"No…I just came…to buy some clothes for…my cousin" Ino said eager to run as soon as she gets an opening.

"Oh! I see, is this boy also with you?" Iruka pointed towards Naruto.

Ino saw Naruto flinched and quickly covered for him.

"Yes…he's the cousin I am talking about." Ino said nervously laughing.

"But why does he have his body covered in blanket?" Iruka asked.

"Because he was feeling cold and he didn't brought any jackets or sweaters from his home." Ino said.

"_Please accept this excuse" _Naruto silently prayed inside the blanket.

"That explains it…" Iruka said.

Both of them sighed in relief.

"…But why is he covering his face?" Iruka asked and both of them went in panic mode once again.

"Because…he…he has developed weird spots on his face." Ino said as she couldn't think of anything immediately.

"Still that makes him kind of suspicious. Let me take a look"

Naruto gulped as Iruka was about to remove the cover, Just then…

"Hey Iruka…what are you doing here?" Another fellow academy teacher called Iruka.

"Oh…nothing I was just talking to…Huh! Where did they disappear…? I guess they were in a hurry." Iruka said as he went back to greet his co-worker and buy gift for Naruto.

-X-

In the next lane, the two teens were panting hard as they ran as soon as Iruka turned behind to greet the other person.

"That was close" Naruto said "I thought I am going to get caught."

"Yeah, that was close. You were almost caught and then I too would have been punished for helping you. I am never going to help you next time. This will be a lesson for me" Ino glared at Naruto.

"Hold on. You were the one who was so persistent in accompanying me. I never wanted you to tag along" Naruto shot back.

"I would never have come with you if you had any idea about the market. You would have roamed around recklessly and would have returned without any success." Ino continued to shout at Naruto.

"That was my problem and maybe I would have succeeded in buying clothes and returning without anyone noticing me, if it weren't your petty excuses and lies" Naruto too matched her in shouting.

"How is it my fault?" Ino crossed her arms.

"Which idiot person makes girly excuses like 'weird marks on face' to answer why someone had his face covered?" Naruto said "Is that the best excuse you can think of?"

"Sorry for not being a smartass like you, but I suppose we could have sneaked out without Iruka sensei noticing us if you wouldn't have been such a slowpoke" Ino said.

"Me? Slowpoke? You are the one who was slowpoke. You were glancing nervously around each second before taking the next step." Naruto was now literary on fire.

"Screw you Naruto" Ino shouted to Naruto.

"Right back to you Ino" Naruto returned the favor.

-X-

After roaming a bit around the village, Naruto decided that it was time for him to return to hospital. Ino simply nodded. Both of them made their way to the hospital in complete silence, neither saying anything to other person. Naruto finally broke the silence.

"Thank You"

Ino gave him no reaction, just continuing to listen.

"I guess I wouldn't have found good clothes without someone assisting me. I guess I spoke too much during argument and I too couldn't have found better excuse instantly…So Thank you for helping me with clothes and covering up for me." Naruto thanked her.

Ino sighed before nodding. "Same here, I think I went overboard during our argument and you were doing your best to avoid the troubles. So…sorry for anything that happened a bit too much."

"That's alright. Now I guess the trouble is over for today. So let's just…"

"I FOUND THOSE KIDS. THEY ARE HERE"

Both teens turned behind to see a group of civilians rushing towards them.

Actually Ino stole a blanket (_borrowed according to Ino's POV_) to hide Naruto when they were going to buy clothes. But she was seen '**borrowing**' the blanket by one of the family members and Ino and Naruto had to run a long way to escape them. This time, the group was even bigger.

"CRAP! They found us." Ino panicked.

"Don't just stand there you fool. Run" Naruto dragged Ino with him.

"The group is even bigger this time." Ino complained

"All thanks to you who couldn't even take a blanket quietly without making a scene." Naruto chided her.

"I am not some professional thief and it was your idea to cover yourself with blanket. You could have gone yourself to take the blanket if you are so sure of yourself." Ino taunted right back.

"Shut up and run" Naruto shouted tossing the blanket right towards the crowd.

-X-

An hour later, both of them were standing behind the hospital building after successfully escaping the crowd.

"Finally" Ino said panting hard "I am sure I am not going out of my house for few days"

"Don't worry. We maintained our distance from the crowd and the only reason they identified us was because of that blanket." Naruto said stretching his hands to prepare for climbing on tree to reach his room's window.

"Hey, how come I am tired after all this running and you are still standing completely fine?" Ino asked Naruto.

"That's because I have been training" Naruto said.

"WHAT" Ino shouted not believing what she heard just now

"What! Did you expect me to lie in the bed while doing nothing? I don't about my old self but I can't stay in bed for all day lying uselessly." Naruto twitted.

"So since how many days were you sneaking out?" Ino asked.

"10 days, and don't you tell that to anyone" Naruto said as he climbed the tree.

As he entered his room through window, he saw Ino doing the same.

"Hey, why are you too coming through tree?" Naruto asked.

"Are you a fool? Every visitor has to sign their name in the record book at the reception. They have record of my arrival but not departure. So it would be suspicious if I disappeared without any departure records. Get it?" Ino asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said as he went back to his bed and pulled sheets over his chest to imply that he has just woke up from the sleep.

Ino wanted to tell him that she had enjoyed helping him in sneaking out. She decided to at least acknowledge to him that all the parts…arguments, escaping from Iruka sensei and mob, selecting clothes and bringing bouquet was fun to her. She too wanted to see Naruto as Choji and Shikamaru used to tell her that new Naruto is somewhat different, and better, than the old Naruto and she was a bit glad when Shikamaru told her this morning that Iruka sensei complained to his father about him skipping classes and so he, Choji or Kiba won't be able to visit Naruto today so she should pay him a visit as he will be discharged from hospital tomorrow and who knows he would be put under some ANBU so that he won't be seen much. Still, she decided to act all ignorant and angry towards Naruto.

"Naruto I..." Ino began but was interrupted by soft snores from Naruto who actually fell asleep while Ino was lost in her all thoughts.

Ino sighed "I guess some things about him never change."

Ino stood up and carefully locked the door before going out putting his clothes besides his pillow.

-X-

"Ino…where have you been? We were looking for you in the village."

Ino was greeted by Shikamaru and Choji as soon as she entered her family flower shop. They looked like they had been waiting for a while.

"Nothing, I was just having fun" Ino smiled.

"Fun! Were you playing with other girls?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, he was my particular cousin." Ino said as she went to working on watering the flowers.

Both boys looked towards each other with confused faces.

"Shikamaru, since when did she had a cousin?" Choji asked.

Shikamaru just shrugged "I don't know. Girls are such a 'drag'.

Ino could only smile as the boys were completely clueless to whatever she is talking about.

-X-

**That brings an end to Chapter 3 of this story. I was planning on using any girl to accompany Naruto. Sakura was much into Sasuke and Hinata was too shy to argue with Naruto and other girls still had to make their debuts, so Ino was the last resort.**

**In the next 4-5 chapters, the story will follow the original storyline though obviously with changes.**

**So I will return soon with a new chapter. Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I am back. All thanks to the proper functioning of my old computer, I managed to write the fourth chapter soon enough. This chapter is dedicated to all those viewers who care to read the Author Notes (: And for those people who were thinking that I am planning to do Naruto x Ino here, sorry but you get it all wrong ;) I don't plan on doing any pairings for now, but if I would do, it's not going to be NaruHina, NaruSaku or NaruIno since these are really common.**

**And now for the acknowledgement, my sincere thanks to:**

**Lunarella01827**

**Chechar**

**Alaria von Ravencroft**

**Animemaster707**

**Tamerlan726**

**mechenuy**

**cnerriza**

**theonedevin**

**masterlevel5**

**ahmadumair737**

**coffeesabregirl1492**

**Gorillaz Latin fan**

**NamelessOne0**

**lucianourg**

**InfectedElite**

**Mr. WithnoName for favorite and follow me and my story.**

**And very special thanks to**

**ewaa**

**LadyEudave05 for their valuable reviews.**

**I feel great to have so many followers when I didn't even completed one whole week of my first fanfic.**

**Now, without any further adieu, here is the fourth chapter of this story. Enjoy!**

_**Chapter 4: Naruto faces Real World**_

Next day, Naruto was busy preparing to leave the hospital after the hospital cleared his reports and allowed him to go home but still advised that he should not put much stress on his body because he has been in bed for a long time. Naruto ignored the advice since nobody in the hospital knew that he had been sneaking out since last 10 days and was training hard enough.

Iruka sensei had arrived to escort Naruto to his apartment. Sarutobi wanted Naruto to stay with Iruka or someone else for a few days since he has yet to discover his memories and there is no guarantee that the kidnapper won't return. But Naruto insisted that he would prefer staying in his own home and didn't want to be a liability or burden to anyone so Sarutobi had to agree to his terms but still he secretly ordered 2 of his trustworthy ANBU to keep an eye on Naruto and protect him if things go wrong.

Finally, Iruka and Naruto left the hospital thanking all the staff of hospital. It was then Iruka started the conversation.

"So, finally out of hospital, eh?" Iruka smirked.

"I am glad" Naruto replied putting his hands in the pocket.

"You know, you could have stayed with me in my house" Iruka side-glanced him.

"I already told you, I am not interested. I can live on my own. I am not as fragile as I look." Naruto scoffed

"Sure" Iruka smiled.

Everything went well for a few minute until they reached more populated areas of Konoha.

"Isn't he…that kid?"

"He actually returned. I thought that was just a rumor."

"May god help us…the demon has returned"

"But why is Iruka-san accompanying…him?"

"It must be Hokage-sama's order. There's no other reason."

The comments which started as a surprise to see Naruto turned into hateful words and death curses to Naruto by the time they reached Naruto's apartment. Even Iruka too felt Naruto getting uneasy at first but soon that feeling turned into anger and hate as time passed by. Any attempts to initiate conversation with Naruto failed miserably as Naruto could only hear villagers' comments and their hate which re-emerged once again. All the better feelings and hopes he got while in hospital due to the few visits and warm hospitability in hospital was washed away in an instant. He was sure that he still isn't welcome. Not before, not now and definitely not later.

"_Welcome back to reality"_ Naruto told himself.

Finally, they reached Naruto's apartment. Naruto imagined his room to be all dirty and smelly by now, but he was surprised to see his room all clean and in best condition.

"I cleaned it yesterday." Iruka replied guessing the surprised look on Naruto. "Even your supplies and everything else was done by me."

"Thanks a lot Iruka sensei." Naruto's anger subsided a little by this. He took off his shoes and went to sit on a carpet. Iruka too joined him after placing his bag near his table.

"Naruto, I don't think I saw these clothes before. Where did you get these? Iruka asked pointing towards the clothes which Naruto got with the help of Ino a day before.

Naruto sweated a little, unable to find a good excuse to tell. "It's…a long story. I will tell you some other time."

Iruka was confused but he simply shrugged.

"Anyways, Naruto you are supposed to start with Academy from tomorrow. Will that be OK?"

Naruto nodded.

"So what are you planning for today?" Iruka asked

"I don't know. Maybe I will rest a bit and then go somewhere…sight-seeing" Naruto rubbed his forehead.

"Oh! Want me to give you a company?" Iruka asked.

Naruto wanted to say that he didn't want to look like a kindergarten kid with Iruka following him all around but he controlled the outburst and simply replied "Thanks, but I think I will manage. Still, if I would have some problem, I will tell you."

"OK" Iruka could sense a little frustration in his voice though he was trying his best to hide it. "But make sure you don't forget to visit Hokage-sama this evening."

"Yeah, I would keep that in mind." Naruto said.

-X-

Iruka went away after helping Naruto in organizing some books and other things. Naruto thanked Iruka sensei and once again assured him that he would take his medicines on time and would eat properly. After that, Naruto went to bath and other activities. He opened the bag in which Iruka told he can find his clothes. Unfortunately, none of them were his size.

"Great, none of them fits me." Naruto shoved the clothes back into the bag and wore his grey T-shirt and brown pants which he bought yesterday. While wearing his T-shirt, his eyes fell on the seal on his abdomen. He rubbed it unconsciously and sighed.

"No, now is not the right time to tell anyone. They will learn eventually."

-X-

At evening, as promised, Naruto went to Hokage tower and knocked at Sarutobi's office.

"Come in" came the voice from inside.

Naruto entered inside and Sarutobi too stood up from his seat.

"Naruto, I have been expecting you. Come here." Sarutobi patted the seat beside him on sofa. Naruto went and sat at the mentioned seat.

"So Naruto, how does it feel out of the hospital?" Sarutobi asked Naruto.

"Much better, I was lying there like a lazy snob. Now it feels good to be out." Naruto said

"Indeed" Sarutobi smiled "So now back to our regular discussion, have you remembered anything else? Location, surroundings or anything you think you can remember about your kidnapping." Sarutobi looked towards Naruto with hope.

"No, nothing new, it was really a desolated place and I could only guess that it's nowhere near this village." Naruto sighed.

Sarutobi could guess that Naruto is hiding something but he decided to give time to Naruto to figure it out himself.

"Still, I don't understand one thing." Sarutobi continued the talk "How come you don't remember anything else but the fact that the villagers hate you?"

"It's because this was one of the methods of torturing me. Beating me and telling me again and again that nobody will save me, I am alone, everyone hates me etc. to weaken my resolve and confidence." Naruto said.

Sarutobi had pretty good idea who the kidnapper was, but he decided to keep it to himself for now considering Naruto is still affected by the torture.

"You are starting in academy tomorrow. Your Genin tests are in a week. I hope you make good friends and become Genin along with everyone." Sarutobi said.

"I too hope so" Naruto said as he looked out of window to see sunset.

-X-

"And these are your books. They are a bit old but it's ok." Iruka said as he handed over some books to Naruto.

Naruto had arrived earlier than everyone in the academy next day as Iruka told him to come and get familiar with the academy. Iruka gave him some books and told him that he should introduce himself to everyone.

"No, I won't" Naruto clearly refused the suggestion "It's not like they will be interested anyways."

-X-

Finally the class began and as Naruto expected, most of them were glaring at him like he was some alien.

Naruto wanted to sit on the backseat as he didn't wanted to be the center of glares of his classmates but Iruka insisted that he should sit in the front as this is his first day and he didn't want Naruto to go sleep and zone out in the back rows.

Naruto just shook his head in desperation. As much he hates it, he is becoming a liability to Hokage and Iruka. He didn't want to hurt their feelings but he is actually becoming tired of their over-protectiveness. He doesn't want to be treated like some scared child who runs and hides behind his parents as soon as he senses some danger.

He saw some students sleeping in the back seat while Iruka sensei was teaching. Iruka had told him that he too was like this. Skipping classes, playing pranks and irritating everyone was usual for him. He sighed on remembering his past. He might be some reckless kid in the past but now he had to grow up esp. when nobody knows when that person might return. So he can't slack off now. He brought hell upon him for last 4 years, it's time for payback.

-X-

Next, in the training ground, everyone was assembled for shuriken throwing test. Iruka called names and the said student came in front and aim shuriken at the tree in front. Most of the students managed to throw shurikens everywhere else except the target, much to Iruka's displeasure.

"Now next" Iruka called from the list "Sasuke Uchiha"

Sasuke stepped forward and almost all the girls cheered from behind esp. Ino and a girl whose name he learnt later, Sakura Haruno.

"Hn…stupid girls" Sasuke grunted as he took 5 shurikens in each hand and neatly threw them to make 2 rows of 5 shuriken.

"Excellent as always Sasuke" Iruka smiled as he marked him on the list.

"Kyaah…Sasuke-kun is the best" all fangirls screamed and glared towards each other intensely and Naruto had to step away from them so that he may not feel hot.

"Now next is Shino Aburame" Iruka announced.

"Iruka sensei, you seem to be forgetting that I am a bug user. I don't use shurikens." Shino replied.

Kiba let out a loud and rude laugh on Shino's reply.

"Oh sorry about that" Iruka replied as he marked Shino on the list "Now next is…Naruto Uzumaki" Iruka said though not without some hesitation.

Whispers started as Naruto stepped in front. Most of them were throwing hateful glances at him, but Naruto ignored all that.

In a similar manner to Sasuke, Naruto took 5 shurikens in each hand and took a look at his target and then with a dead-on accuracy, threw shurikens. Each of his shurikens landed in gaps between Sasuke's shurikens.

Everyone's jaw dropped at this. Even Iruka dropped his list in surprise, and to make things even funnier, one of the students even tried releasing some chakra thinking that it's all Genjutsu. Among the most shocked ones were Iruka, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Sakura. Even Ino, who knew that he was training, had her jaw dropped.

"_I guess she didn't think I will go that far in such a short time. All the same, this will be a lesson to whoever underestimates me" _Naruto smirked internally.

"Naruto…that was marvelous" Iruka said after he snapped out of his surprised mode "How did you do that?"

"Practice" Naruto simply replied "Did you honestly thought that I would lie on bed all day doing nothing except reading books? By your expression, I would assume that I performed well"

"Definitely" Iruka replied as Naruto went back to his place where he was standing before.

This time hateful glances reduced a bit as Naruto predicted

"Na…Naruto-kun" Naruto turned behind to see that the voice belonged to Hinata "You…You were good"

"Thanks" Naruto gave a short acknowledgement to the meek girl.

-X-

While returning to class, 3 girls stopped Naruto in his tracks.

"You fool" one of the girl said "How dare you rival our Sasuke-sama?"

"He is best in the class…no he is best in whole leaf village." Another girl remarked.

"So don't you dare compete with him. You will lose miserably" the last girl finished with a smirk.

"We will see about that" Naruto went past them but was stopped again by those girls.

"Don't you get it? You will listen to us…" The girls glared.

"What if I don't…?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Grr…You will pay for it when Sasuke-kun will emerge on top and you won't be near." The girls growled but were ignored as Naruto once again slipped past between them.

"Wish all the luck to your Sasuke-kun. He will need it badly if he wants me as a rival" Naruto calmly said without even looking at girls and entered the class as the girls were surprised as well as angry on Naruto's arrogance.

-X-

"Ok. Time's up."

Iruka shouted as an hour long class test on Ninja tactics came to an end. Iruka collected copies and the day came to an end. Everyone picked their bags and left the class one by one.

"Naruto" Iruka said as Naruto was among the last to go. "You were excellent today. Keep practicing and you will soon be better than everyone."

"I already am." Naruto said as he exited the class.

Iruka smiled on Naruto's reply. _"Same arrogance as back then but at least he is sincere now"_

"And by the way" Naruto reappeared while peeping through door "Today, I discovered a scroll in my house which has details on Sexy Transformation Jutsu. I hope you will help me master it."

Iruka paled as Naruto went away this time.

"_Ok. I take my last sentence back."_

-X-

A knock on Hokage's office door

"Come in." Sarutobi said who was busy in paper-works.

Iruka entered the office with a report and big bundle in hands.

"Oh, it's you Iruka, so what brings you here?" Sarutobi asked while smoking his cigar.

"The academy reports, and also Genin test is next week so I want your seal on the forms. I hope I am not disturbing." Iruka said in his polite tone.

"No, not at all" Sarutobi took the forms "So how is it going on? I mean Naruto's progress

"Unexpected. He got full marks in shuriken test and tied with Sasuke, while he was 3rd in theory test next to Shikamaru and Sakura." Iruka said cheerfully.

"I see. I must say he has changed a lot. He isn't our old Naruto anymore." Sarutobi said still working on the forms.

"Yeah, he really matured after this incident but still I kind of this the old Naruto, the prankster and cheerful one." Iruka said grinning sheepishly.

"You know, when he was gone, I thought that I am never going to find him again. I felt that I broke my promise to 4th Hokage. It was a huge relief that Naruto was discovered, though by luck, and as for his maturity, we have to make sure that it doesn't go in wrong direction, but without him noticing us or he would feel as if we are hindering his freedom. From what I have noticed, if the kidnapper reappears once again, Naruto would rush to fight him without any second thought. Therefore, it's our job to ensure that Naruto didn't come across anything related to his kidnapper."

"I understand Hokage-sama. I also think that Naruto needs to be watched. When I was escorting Naruto from hospital, I had seen the way he reacted when the villagers commented on him. He looked ready to chew them out." Iruka rubbed his temple.

"I will keep that in mind. Thanks for telling Iruka" Sarutobi said as he handed back the papers to Iruka.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I should take my leave now." Iruka bowed and left the office.

Sarutobi leaned back on his chair and sighed.

"The reports just now confirmed the fact that Naruto indeed is hiding something important. Training for just 10 days when you are not in your top condition won't get you to top from dead last. I don't want to think that but if it has something to do with **his **plans, it's really dangerous. I just hope this village doesn't give birth to another…No I shouldn't think like this. It's like I am doubting Naruto and myself. But now I have to be ready for some surprises here and there. Let's see what else I would get to hear from my special man about Naruto."

-X-

After leaving academy, Naruto roamed around the village before going home. He went everywhere from riverside, market, bathhouse, mountainside etc. and finally settled on a swing in the playground. Just because no one likes him to see, doesn't mean that he would just hide inside his home and let villagers distraught him.

Just when he was lost in his thoughts, someone approached to him from behind. The said person waited for Naruto to notice his presence but when Naruto didn't gave any reaction, he tapped on his shoulder. Naruto snapped out of his thought and turned behind to see a raven hair boy looming over him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"You are Sasuke, right?" Naruto recognized his famous classmate who was famous among all girls.

Sasuke nodded and once again repeated his question.

"Am I not allowed to roam in the village on my own will?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged "I don't know the details but I heard you are just out of hospital and you are going to need lots of rest to completely recover."

"And I thought you are someone who ignores rumors until he is interested." Naruto gave a swift reply to which Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Just so you know, you are being watched" Sasuke said as he went away.

Naruto was surprised, not because of the information. He already knew that he is being watched. Whoever is shadowing him is doing a very poor job in hiding himself. He concluded that his might be because they are underestimating him as some normal academy kid who is quite amateur for now. He didn't point out to anyone because that might alert his followers to be extra cautious. What surprised him was that he thought no one else would be able to find out.

"Impressive" Naruto said as he remembered his argument with 3 Sasuke fan-girls today.

"For a rival, he is not a bad choice after all" Naruto smirked as he picked up his bag and proceeded to go home and rest (**not because Sasuke said it.**)

Unfortunately, what Naruto was expecting to be Hokage's men or some high class jounins following him, it was actually a petite and meek girl with lavender hairs and big eyes who tried to shadow Naruto whenever she could.

"Naruto-kun" The girl said to herself as she watched Naruto leaving playground and returning home.

-X-

**And this brings an end to fourth chapter of this story. The next chapter will be about one of the most important thing related to Naruto...RAMEN! The chapter is almost ready and I am planning to post it after I get at least 12 reviews. After that we move to the story line i.e., Genin Test.**

**Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews encourage me to write and post soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys! I am back with the tastiest chapter of this story. Though it's not that necessary for the story, but I won't prefer making many changes in one chapter only. I don't feel like I gave my best to this chapter and this chapter is shorter than the previous chapters, still i managed to cross 2k+ words.**

**This is the last chapter before original story-line begins. I would like to dedicate this chapter to one of my friend, who passed away almost 2 years ago and he was my closest friend who was interested in Naruto and suggested the idea of cool and strong Naruto. I seriously wish that he would have been here. He would have really freaked out if I had written a bad chapter.**

**Anyways, moving to the acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**Nicholas Dreamer**

**Bigmac2323**

**Tyraelistan**

**kingofkings8869**

**Cvrious**

**alladin901**

**animelove22**

**shodaimeuzukage17**

**one-crazy-otaku**

**brenogyn**

**kitsunesoftpaw**

**NinjaFang1331**

**whitestriker1219**

**EtherealKnight21**

**TheMysticDuo**

**ARevolt**

**sundevil1152**

**JeLyAd**

**divergentlover523 for following and favorite me and my story.**

**And special thanks to:**

**Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night**

**NinjaFang1331**

**thor94**

**ewaa for their precious reviews.**

**Now without further adieu, here is the fifth chapter of the story. Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Chapter 5: A Bowl of Wonder**_

This week had been hectic to Naruto. Home to academy, academy to training grounds, training grounds to Hokage tower and then back to home, it was sufficient to tire out Naruto. Though Naruto wasn't that tired, the side-effects of his medicines made him into a huge sleepy guy. So obviously Naruto felt glad when he was told that he can stop his medicines now.

It was last night before Genin Test. Tomorrow is supposed to be the day when Naruto will have self-assessment of his skills and where does he actually stand among others. It was quarter to midnight when Naruto came out of his house for a walk and need of some fresh air. He was trying to sleep but every time he was interrupted by some weird dreams about snakes and his kidnapper. The dreams which haunted him for last 4 years, continued to haunt him as soon as he stopped his medicines, still he decided to keep this to himself. The only good thing that came out was that it made him hate the kidnapper even more and his hate fueled the desire to overcome the limits and keep progressing.

Naruto decided that he would just go on a short tour of the village before returning home. More than half of the Konoha was asleep by now and there were only a few people on the streets. All of them glared at him like they always do when they saw him on the street or anywhere public. It was enough to remind him that he is not welcome here.

But does he care?

No. Not after he has been at hell for whole four years. Every muscle of his body felt the pain and the screams that erupted when his body felt like it's been kept between red hot pans. The pain was unbearable, yet he wouldn't die. All he could do was pray that the pain soon calms down. He had just lost his hope when the pain ended instantly and a warm and soothing feeling came to him. The next thing he remembered was that he saw light. After he had been kept in a dark lab for 4 years, light seemed a foreign thing to him.

He noticed some people wearing surgical masks were standing near him. He could still feel the pain, but it was considerably lower than the pain he felt before. He was still trying to analyze if these people are enemy or friends, when he suddenly heard a name.

"Naruto"

He saw one particular person bending over him as if he was expecting any reaction.

"Naruto?" he once again heard that. Is this his name? Maybe, but why does this sound familiar? Was he called Naruto before he went into darkness and was titled Experiment, Jinchuriki or Kyuubi.

He could only nod his head to the person who now looked satisfied.

"Yo, that's really him, Naruto Uzumaki. Call Ryujin-sama immediately"

Naruto was unable to see what happened next as his eyes closed once again and as he welcomed the sleep, he wished that if this is a dream, this dream never ends. His body welcomed the warm feeling that light brought and he doesn't want to return to that cold and dark place once again.

Naruto could feel someone calling him but he was unable to answer as he was already asleep.

"Naruto"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and realized that someone indeed was calling him. He turned sideways to see a girl waving to him from a shop and beckoning him to come over.

"Ichiraku Ramen" Naruto read the name of the shop and walked towards it.

"Naruto, is that you?" The girl asked as he got closer.

"Yeah, that's me" Naruto replied and waved as a greeting.

"When did you get out of the hospital?" The girl asked with same smile.

"Almost a week ago" Naruto was trying hard to recognize the girl.

"But we never saw you until today" The girl said with a confused face.

"That's because I was told to rest properly and avoid going out too much" Naruto skipped the part that he didn't followed these instructions.

"You have changed. It's been a long time. Isn't it?" The girl motioned to a stool

"Yeah, it's been actually a long time." Naruto took the assigned seat.

"Hey Otou-san, see it's Naruto-kun" the girl yelled to her father who was cooking.

The man turned around and smiled towards Naruto, and Naruto too politely smiled back.

Wait…

Something was wrong…

The way the girl and old man looked at him with a surprised face; it looked as if he did something out of character.

"Naruto, you remember us right?" the girl asked stepping ahead.

Damn. Naruto was caught there. He was told that he loved to eat ramen but he never remembered where. So obviously, Naruto was completely clueless about both of them. Naruto didn't want to disappoint them but…

"Sorry. I don't…I still have some memory issues" Naruto added the last line in his defense though it wasn't necessary.

There was an awkward silence with girl taken aback and old man unaffected as if he expected it.

"I...I see" the girl replied as she turned back and went behind one of the covers which hide rooms from the shop.

Naruto looked down. The way the girl was talking seemed like she knew him too well. He knew that some people might feel hurt because he didn't remember them. But still he tried to remember them and tried to avoid the situation most of the time. This was the similar case with Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata and Kiba who visited together on the second day and Naruto failed to recognize them. Fortunately, they didn't make it a big issue and Shikamaru introduced everyone since Choji was eyeing the fruits and chocolates he got from the visitors and with approval from Naruto jumped to devour the fruits. Kiba was planning to mix some funny drug in his medicines and Hinata was too shy to speak.

Just then a big bowl of ramen was placed in front of him. He looked up to see the old man putting spoon and chop-sticks in the bowl.

"I…" Naruto tried to refuse but he was interrupted.

"Don't worry. That's on house today. Consider it your welcome gift. This is one of my nutritional recipes. It will help you. You have a Genin Test tomorrow, right?" The man went to clean his counter.

"_Of course, he might have many customers from the academy or their parents. Someone might have told him." _Naruto sighed before picking the chopsticks "Thanks for the treat" Naruto said as he took first bite of the noodles.

"And by the way, my name is Teuchi and the girl was my daughter Ayame, and this shop is Ichiraku Ramen, which used to be your favorite place to hang out."

"Really?" Naruto was surprised, even though he thought that this could be true after he loved the ramen.

"Yes, you would just gulp 15-16 bowls of Miso Ramen on an average. Sometimes you came alone and other times you were accompanied by Iruka who used to pay your huge bills."

Naruto groaned at the thought of being such a heavy eater and isn't it rude to let someone else pay your huge bills? Obviously not a guy thing, he decided to change the topic.

"So did Ayame-san was angry?" Naruto said slowly devouring his meal.

"You were like a little brother to him. I never saw her that worried about someone else like you. She was really worried about you for last 4 years. I still remember you two having a lot of arguments when you came and bragged about your little pranks. Iruka told us about your return last time he visited us. She then made it a habit to look for you at evening so that she may spot you passing by. But I think she felt hurt when you didn't remember us. Iruka told us about your memory loss, but I guess it's still hard to believe". Teuchi said as he prepared to close down the shop for tonight.

"I see…but why were you looking all surprised when I greeted you earlier?" Naruto asked close to finishing his meal.

"Oh that…you see, whenever you visited, you always jumped over a stool shouting for ramen and giving a big toothy grin before we could even reply and you were really impatient during the 3 minute interval when ramen was prepared. Precisely… politeness and greetings were the last traits, everyone thought, you could possess."

Naruto grunted with noodles in his mouth. Having introduction with his past self was not as good as he thought.

"But still you were one of the liveliest and hyper-active kids I saw in my life who had a really kind heart as well. No matter how much, the villagers hurt you or hate you, every morning you would be as cheerful and active as if nothing happened. You had the power to brighten anyone's day. I just hope that nothing much would have changed about you from last time."

"I don't exactly remember the details when I was a kid so I can't tell, and it's the others' job to tell the difference." Naruto said.

"Oh! You are done. Do you want a refill?" Teuchi asked as he looked at an empty bowl.

"No thanks! I think it would be a while before I get my diet back." He stood up and put money on the counter.

"I told you…" Teuchi was about to refuse the money.

"I know, but it's been a long time since I have been here. I don't know about last time, but for now I don't have many people and places which I could relate to. I wouldn't like eating at one of my favorite places without paying for it. So keep the 'house thing' for later." Naruto said while dusting his pants.

"_Never thought I would be hearing this from Naruto" _Teuchi smiled.

"I am really short on details so I think I would need to visit again very soon, and I really loved the ramen." Naruto prepared to leave.

"Otou-san, are you done?" Ayame came out back from the room "Oh Naruto! Leaving already?"

"I am done for tonight. See you later old man. Good night, Nee-chan" Naruto said as he turned away to leave.

Ayame was surprised that Naruto remembered her. Teuchi just smiled as he returned the greeting.

"All the best for tomorrow Naruto" Teuchi said as he waved.

"Don't fail the test, you baka" Ayame shouted while laughing.

Naruto returned to his home and lied on the bed. Old man Teuchi was right, this time Naruto was able to sleep peacefully without any of those weird dreams.

Ramen truly did wonders to Naruto.

* * *

Far away, in a dark cave which was illuminated by fire lighting in a corner, a man with long black hair was sitting on a chair and chuckling to himself as several screams could be heard in the entire cave.

"Very well Naruto. You want revenge? I think I will let you have your way soon. Stay prepared Naruto because soon those dreams will turn into reality when I will come and get you once again…and this time there is no escaping."

The entire cave boomed with a loud and terrifying laugh from the black-haired man.

* * *

**Oooooooo... the kidnapper declares that he is going to take Naruto once again. And this brings an end to fifth chapter of the story. Most of you have already realized who the kidnapper was. I hope I managed to do a decent work in this chapter. I got one PM from one of the readers of my story that I should increase the words to more than 5k+. It would be troublesome but I might try this in future chapters. Next chapter is Genin Test and face-off with Mizuki :0 .**

**Until then, it's a good-bye from NBD. I will be back soon with a new chapter and when I have at least 16 reviews.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi guys! I am back with the long awaited story. This chapter is about the Genin Test and face-off with Mizuki. This chapter is dedicated to Mashashi Kishimoto for being the original creator of the story. Now moving to the acknowledgements:**

**My sincere thanks to**

**En-sabbah-norr**

**shadez69**

**mikeyb93**

**Asylum Jester**

**Igor De Souza Santos**

**korohoshi**

**one-crazy-otaku**

**Shippingtoomanyships**

**IrateWritreviewer ****for following and favorite me and my story.**

**And special thanks to:**

**thedazzlingemerald**

**Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night**

**and 2 guests for their precious reviews.**

**Now without further adieu, here is the sixth chapter of the story. Please ignore any errors. Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Chapter 6: The Journey Begins**_

Next day, Naruto was able to wake up early in the morning. Today is the Genin Test and for his every classmate, this was an important day. But Naruto hardly cared, he had a different importance for the test. He saw the test as a means of proving to the village and his haters that he too comes in the category of 'villagers' and with the headband on his forehead, he was sure that he would get some respect. Naruto just crawled out of his bed, brushed his teeth, took a shower and changed into Grey T-shirt and Brown pants. After taking his breakfast of cereal and milk, he headed to the academy.

Just when he entered the market area of the village, he was suddenly surrounded by some of the civilians with weapons like shovels, clubs, machetes, kendo sticks and other weapons.

Naruto had pretty much idea what this meant. But still he managed to ask "What do you want?" looking at the crowd which was consisting of around 20-25 people.

"You monster! Why did you return?" one of the person in front who looked like their apparent leader shouted.

"_Ok, now that was something expected"_ Naruto sighed "Listen up. I am in a hurry now. I have to reach academy for the test. Keep that thing for some other day. Now would you be kind enough to leave my way?"

"No. You will not go to academy, you will not give any test and you will not become ninja since you don't belong to this village." One of the other men shouted.

"And who are you to tell me that?" Naruto narrowed his eyes.

The leader was not pleased with the response. He rushed forward with an axe in his hand. "You dare to question us" he raised his axe to strike but Naruto blocked it with only one hand.

You never stop this fiasco of killing me, do you? Unfortunately, my stress and anger is on an all-time high point and I needed someone to vent out my frustration. You and your group are the unlucky one today."

The leader tried to take back his weapon but Naruto had strong grip on his axe.

"Let me set an example for whoever plans to go on Naruto-hunting from now onwards."

Naruto snatched the axe from the leader and kicked hard on his abdomen resulting in him flying towards other men.

"_Sometimes it's better 'to demonstrate' than 'to debate'"_ Naruto thought as the remaining members of group rushed towards him _"Let's have some warm-up before going to academy."_

Within a few minutes, everyone was lying on the ground completely knocked out and Naruto wasn't even breaking any sweat.

Naruto saw that many people had assembled there to watch the fight. Almost all of them were sweating after Naruto beat the large group with much ease.

Naruto then walked towards the leader who was the only conscious one among his group.

"I suppose this would be a reminder to you that you shouldn't mess with me. Get that?"

The leader, who was unable to stand, due to Naruto pinning him with his leg just managed to shout "Next time, you will surely die by my hand. I will be the one to drag your body around the village as my victory and I will be the one to send you to hell."

Naruto just shook his head. This man was so full of himself. He was expecting Naruto to just go his way and leave him lying there. He was expecting that he is going to scare Naruto with his arrogant face and big words. Little did he know about what's coming next…

"How about there is no next time for you?" these words proved to be the turning break for the leader whose arrogant and cocky face disappeared as soon as he realized the meaning of Naruto 's words. This was proven further when Naruto picked up the axe which was lying nearby and pointed it towards the leader's face. "You want me to go to hell? Why don't you go and pay my regards to the devil?" Naruto raised the axe to strike and leader's eyes widened with fear.

Just when Naruto was about to bring the weapon down, a hand caught his wrist and prevented him to strike.

Naruto turned behind to see who managed to save his attacker. A tall man was standing behind with his other hand in his pocket. By his attire, he clearly looked Jounin. He had silver hairs and his face was covered with a mask and his headband was covering his left eye.

"You know, killing a civilian of your own village is a crime" the jounin said releasing his wrist "You will be severely punished."

"Do I care?" Naruto replied throwing axe sideways and proceeding to academy. However, before leaving, he turned behind to look at the leader and replied "You were lucky today. But luck doesn't work every time, does it?"

The paled look on leader's face was enough to convince Naruto that this will be the last time that foolish will try something like this.

"Naruto Uzumaki…Quite an interesting kid, though I still don't understand why Hokage-sama chose me out of all his ANBUs to keep an eye on Naruto?" he said before taking out a small size book from his pocket to read.

* * *

Naruto entered the academy, and as he supposed, he was last in his class and Iruka sensei was already busy addressing the students.

"Naruto!" Iruka turned to the gate on hearing footsteps "You are late"

"Sorry Iruka Sensei" Naruto apologized, though a bit insincerely "Something came up and delayed me while I was coming to academy" Naruto didn't told the last part about attack since he felt unnecessary discussing something which Iruka Sensei will learn eventually.

"Fine, go to your seat now" Iruka instructed.

Naruto went to the last seat and settled there.

"So as I was saying," Iruka said after gaining the attention of whole class "To graduate, you will have to do the 'Bunshin No Jutsu'. When you are called, come to the next room. Me &amp; Mizuki sensei will be there to observe you. Good luck everyone."

Iruka went away and whisper began among students.

"_Bunshin no Jutsu! Looks like I will be through" _Naruto thought _"Still, I was expecting something like spar or some competition event"._

-X-

After almost an hour, Naruto was called. While standing on the door, he saw his previous candidate struggling to perform Bunshin Jutsu. Somehow, he managed to make 2 clones to pass the test. Iruka nodded in satisfaction as he handed the forehead protector to him.

It was then Naruto's turn. Iruka looked tensed as Naruto entered the room with hands in his pockets, but Naruto eye-signaled him that it's going to be fine.

Naruto stood in the centre of room and made hand-seals. With 2 small smoke blasts, 2 identical copies appeared alongside Naruto.

Iruka sighed with relief as he marked 'pass' in front of Naruto's name and handed him a forehead protector. "Congratulations on passing" he said as Naruto left the room without any reply and stuffed the headband in his pocket.

He went out and sat on one of the nearby benches.

He could see parents and other peoples who came to receive their kids or to simply see who graduated and their comments somewhat pierced him.

"Good job! That's my son"

"Now you are a man"

"I am so proud of you. I am going to make your favorite dinner tonight."

Unluckily, some comments were also directed towards him.

"Hey that kid…"

"Yeah, that's 'the kid' and looks like he is the only one failed."

"Well that's a good thing"

"He shouldn't become a shinobi"

Naruto might have ignored their comments but the incident this morning had already irked him, and their comments were adding fuel to the fire. Maybe if they had seen the headband over his forehead…but that was useless. The venom in their mind would never just go.

"You know he is…"

The woman couldn't complete her sentence as a forehead protector was thrown to her feet and the topic of their conversation just stood up and left he premises.

"He…he actually passed!"

This action of Naruto didn't go unnoticed by 2 persons.

"Iruka, I need to talk to you."

"Yes sir" came the reply from the academy teacher.

* * *

Why should I become a shinobi?

To protect people!

The people who just never accept him as human and loathed him whenever and wherever they want to.

He is better as a non-shinobi than being one which everyone despises.

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when he felt a presence behind his back.

"Mizuki sensei" Naruto said without even turning back.

"Naruto, congrats on your performance" Mizuki said as he sat beneath Naruto over a roof.

"Thanks" Naruto's short reply clearly indicated his off-mood.

"I know you must be thinking about the villagers. Well, they truly aren't wrong. It's just they have some misconception about you. I know it sucks to be all alone, and ignored by your own villagers. But you have to understand that it will take some time for the truth to come out and the misconception to clear out" Mizuki chuckled.

"I know." Naruto sighed "But I wish I could be away from this hatred and loathing, even if it is a short time"

Mizuki's eyes turned towards Naruto before he spoke "In that case, let me tell you a special secret."

Naruto didn't gave any reaction except turning to face Mizuki.

"There is also another Genin Test also which is known as 'Elite Genin Test'.

"Elite Genin Test!"

"Yeah" Mizuki smirked "Although this test is a bit tough, if you manage to clear it, you will be classified as special Genins. They are directly promoted to Jounins without being Chunins. Lucky ones even go directly to ANBU. And the best part, you would be trained by High-class Jounins outside the village, so that you won't be pestered by villagers. Isn't that great?"

"Well…yeah. So what I have to do?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing much, you just need a recommendation letter from one of the academy teachers. Don't tell Iruka about this. This would be a surprise to him if you qualify the test. Just do a small task for me and I would recommend your name for the test." Mizuki smiled.

"So what do I have to do?" Naruto asked after thinking a bit.

* * *

It was the night time in Konoha, the streets were empty and there wasn't a soul around.

The window to Hokage's office slowly opened and Naruto slowly slipped out with a scroll on his back. He then proceeded to go to the place where Mizuki told him that he would meet. And from the corner of a building, Mizuki who was keeping an eye on Naruto smirked.

* * *

Iruka was lying in his bed unable to sleep as he remembered the angry face of Naruto, when he glared at the people who were commenting on him, as if he wanted to kill them.

Hokage-sama has warned him that this Naruto is more sensible and mature than the previous Naruto, but that also makes him more dangerous than the previous one. Suddenly, he felt Naruto's face replaced by the Kyuubi as the demon was making havoc in the village. The image of his parents bleeding, some other ninja dragging him to safe place as he was struggling to go to his parents, Kyuubi's roar…

He was awakened from his dream when he heard sharp knocks on his door. He saw that Mizuki was standing outside his gate.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Hokage-sama has summoned an important meeting. Naruto has taken the scroll of Forbidden Seal as a prank" Mizuki told as he was heavily sweating.

Iruka was stunned. Both of them reached outside Hokage's residence where other ninjas were already present. They looked really angry. Iruka knew that they won't hesitate to kill Naruto if anything happens.

Sarutobi was already addressing other ninjas "yes, that's a dangerous scroll forbidden by the previous Hokage. If used in certain way, it could be really dangerous. We must hurry and find Naruto before anything wrong happens"

"Yes sir!" With that, the ninjas dispersed.

Iruka climbed over the tallest building to look for Naruto. "Where could he go? I have to find him before anyone else or he could be punished…I should check the woods."

Meanwhile, Mizuki was happy with success of his plan. "I will just pretend to search and then I'll get rid of Naruto and make it look like he disappeared with the scroll."

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto was taking a nap under a tree when he felt someone approach him. He opened an eye to see a smirking Iruka standing in front of him.

"Heh, I found you" Iruka said "I thought you stopped the pranks"

"I really stopped the pranks, Iruka sensei" Naruto glared at him.

"So what are you doing with that scroll?" Iruka pointed towards Naruto's back.

"Oh, this" Naruto brought the scroll in front "Mizuki sensei asked me to bring the scroll to him. He said he would nominate for a special test and you were not supposed to know about this."

"Mizuki!" Iruka thought but suddenly snapped when he felt lots of kunai knives flying in his direction. He immediately pushed Naruto aside and took the blow, resulting in several knives piercing him.

"Nice job finding the moron Iruka" Mizuki landed over a branch.

"I see. So that's what was going on, this was your entire plan Mizuki sensei" Naruto crossed his arms.

"Naruto, give me that scroll" Mizuki ordered Naruto.

Naruto prepared to hand over scroll to Mizuki.

"Naruto! Whatever happens, don't give him that scroll" Iruka screamed from his point trying to take out knives from his body. "That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden Ninjutsu written inside it. Mizuki used you to get his hands on that scroll"

Naruto still tossed the scroll towards Mizuki completely ignoring Iruka's words. Mizuki laughed as he prepared to catch the scroll, but before he could catch it, the scroll burst and a large smoke blast occurred. Moments later, Mizuki emerged out of the blast coughing and panting.

"You! What is the meaning of this?" Mizuki screamed at Naruto.

Naruto shrugged in response "I don't know. I think someone gave me wrong scroll"

Instead of getting angry, Mizuki smiled "Naruto, there is no point hiding it. Tell me where it is?"

"Why should I?"

Mizuki grunted "Very smart. Let me tell you a secret about your specialty in exchange of the scroll."

Iruka realized what Mizuki was talking about "No, don't tell him!"

Mizuki ignored him as he continued "12 years ago…you know about demon being sealed, right? Since that day, a special rule was created for this village. But this rule was never meant to be told to you."

"Not to me?" Naruto narrowed his eyebrows "What is this rule?"

Mizuki laughed before continuing "The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the Nine-tailed demon fox."

Iruka shouted, rather pleaded, to Mizuki "Stop it!"

But Mizuki continued "You are the Nine-tailed demon fox that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village. You were sealed up by the Hokage you admire and you have been lied to by everyone. Everyone hates you."

Naruto's face was down and his eyes were covered up by his bangs. Suddenly a smirk travelled up to his lips and he smiled! The smile soon turned into a full laughter.

Even Iruka and Mizuki were confused.

"Sorry Mizuki sensei, but this secret wasn't that great as I thought." Naruto said after he controlled his laugh.

Mizuki growled at him "You think I am joking? You really are the monster."

"Monster? You mean this…" Naruto said as black slits appeared in his eyes as they turned red and his fangs and canines grew up and an almost transparent orange aura surrounded him.

Mizuki and Iruka were terrified.

Even Sarutobi who was looking the scenario in his chakra infused orb was horrified

'_Darn it. The chance that Naruto will destroy the village is one in a hundred, but now his seal has already been open and if Naruto attacks the village then…_'

But as soon as the changes occurred, they also disappeared soon.

"Like it? Now let me tell you a secret too." Naruto said as he saw Mizuki shaking and sweating "This morning, when you came to me with the offer, I already had my doubts. So I went into the library at Hokage's tower and looked for it. Of course, there was nothing about it. That just meant either of the 2 things: This test was illegal or…you were lying."

Iruka was surprised on Naruto 's smartness.

"I could have find you and told you that I am not interested anymore, but I was curious. I wanted you to be caught red-handed because if not me, you would have fooled someone else. So I decided that I would be the bait to lure you."

Mizuki gritted his teeth in anger as Naruto continued the secret.

"So I just appeared to enter Hokage-sama's office but I just made this fake copy through my transformation Jutsu and left my chakra signatures everywhere so that anyone clever enough could follow and find me and you."

"If this is just a transformed version of scroll, where is the real scroll?" Mizuki barked.

"In the Hokage tower itself, I think you told me that I only have to prove that I am capable of infiltrating. So, there was no point in bringing the real scroll." Naruto crossed his arms.

"You know, I have been pissed since this morning when some stupid pricks decided to attack on me, then some of the women commented on me to make things gone worse but at least they were thinking about the village. You decided to use me for your own benefits and then for the last straw, you dared to hurt Iruka sensei. I feel like killing you now." It was Naruto's turn to glare at Mizuki.

Mizuki still decided to play hard "Haha…I will kill someone like you in one shot."

"Try it trash. I will return the pain a thousand times over. You won't be able to even touch me."

"Then do it Demon Fox"

The next moment, everyone's eyes popped out as they saw over a 1000 shadow clones of Naruto surrounding the three of them.

"Wha…What's going on?" Mizuki felt like fainting.

"What's wrong?" One of the clones said.

"Weren't you going to kill me with one shot?" another clone said.

Mizuki was simply awestruck.

"Well then…I will start, Ok?" the original one stepped in front.

The loud screams of Mizuki could be heard throughout the forest.

"That finishes it" Naruto said looking at all swollen and half-dead body of Mizuki.

"_He really beat Mizuki to a pulp" _Sarutobi smiled looking in his magical orb.

"Naruto, do you really wish to protect the village?" Iruka asked.

"No, I am not going to protect he village" Iruka flinched at Naruto's answer " I am doing this for some people like you, Hokage-sama, Ichiraku Ramen, Izumo, Kotetsu, some of my friends of academy, but unfortunately, by saving you people, I am indirectly protecting the village"

Iruka smiled at his reply.

"Naruto, come over here. There's something I want to give you."

* * *

"Did anyone found him?" One of the Chunin asked as they all assembled unable to find Naruto.

"Damn it. He must be faraway by now" another Chunin clenched his first.

"Don't worry" Sarutobi came out of his office

"Hokage-sama!" They all said.

"I am sure he will be back soon." Sarutobi said looking up as soon it's going to be morning.

* * *

"Iruka sensei, I seriously hate surprises." Naruto said as he was told by Iruka to close his eyes.

"Ok. You can open your eyes now" Iruka said smiling.

Naruto opened his eyes and touched his forehead where he felt Iruka's forehead protector.

"Once again, congratulations on graduating"

"But I…" Naruto was interrupted.

"I know you still have your doubts. But I have my faith in you. As long as this forehead protector will remain with you, you would never do anything bad to your people and village. After all, you are my best student and I know that you will be a fine shinobi." Iruka patted his head.

Naruto was clearly embarrassed but he scoffed to hide it.

"Whatever. Just start moving and tag along, Nose-Bleeder sensei" Naruto said turning back and moving towards the village.

"Baka, I will kick your ass next time, you call me that!" Iruka shouted from behind as he followed Naruto.

* * *

**And this brings an end to sixth chapter of the story. I hope you liked it. The next chapter will be about Konohamaru and Naruto's first encounter... and of course Naruto will** **meet the infamous Ebisu.**

**Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I am always hungry for them.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi guys! I am back with a new chapter. This whole week I had been busy with my college stuff. But somehow I managed to write a whole 2.5k+ chapter for all my lovely and awesome readers. I would like to dedicate this chapter to one of my friend BTR who inspired me to write this story.**

**For acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**SAllen94  
oculus miran 231  
JJ1083  
Stallion6 of Deviantart  
tigraneko515  
thestorymaker2  
DaRkFRrOsT DrAgON  
Kessapearl  
Galandrael  
DoubleAron83  
Librajem  
Skaype  
roooll  
Shikiola  
Amoknystrom  
Saiko Onikage for following and favorite my story.**

**And special thanks to:**

**jonathan evans 92754397  
thor94  
NinjaFang1331  
JJ1083  
Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night for their awesome reviews. i am glad you liked it.**

**Now without any further adieu, here is the seventh chapter of this story. Enjoy!**

_**Chapter 7: Boss and the Underling**_

Naruto was sitting in the Hokage's office as he is submitting his form for the Shinobi Registration Book.

"Retake the photo Naruto" Hokage ordered

"Why?" Naruto raised his eyebrow

"The photo is unsuitable. What's with this monotonous face? You look as if you have just woken up from sleep…and where is your forehead protector?" Sarutobi asked pointing out the faults.

"I look fine as I am, and as for forehead protector, I don't look cool in it. I am not sure if I am going to wear it even on missions." Naruto crossed his arms and looked in different direction.

"The Shinobi Registration Book is a list of all the Shinobi in this village and their abilities. This is a very important document so it can't be taken lightly" Sarutobi explained.

"I don't know whatever you are talking about" Naruto continued looking with a face full of boredom.

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to?" One of the academy teachers who were assisting Hokage in the document collection stood up "This is Hokage-sama you are talking to, not your weakling guardian Iruka".

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the person while Sarutobi shook his head in disappointment.

"Weakling, huh?" Naruto stood up from his seat. "Let's see how strong you are."

Naruto made his seal and quietly murmured…

"Transform"

With a small poof, a beautiful blonde was standing, completely naked and blowing kisses towards the target.

The academy teacher flew off with a major nosebleed, but unexpectedly, even Sarutobi too slipped from his seat with a nosebleed.

"Great" Naruto said as he returned to his normal form "For a Hokage, you sure are one big pervert"

"It's nothing like that. I was just taken by surprise" Sarutobi said wiping his nose.

"Whatever" Naruto took his seat.

Suddenly the door to an adjacent room opened and a small boy ran towards Sarutobi.

"Fight me you old geezer" The boy shouted.

"_Will it ever end?"_ Sarutobi sighed.

He ran halfway towards Sarutobi before he slipped and fell on his face.

"Damn it! Who set the trap here?" The kid growled rubbing his forehead.

A man came running behind the kid who seemed to be his tutor. "Konohamaru, are you alright…and there isn't a trap anywhere." The tutor said adjusting his glasses.

"Way to go Ebisu" Sarutobi said smoking his cigar.

Before Ebisu could reply, Naruto interrupted them.

"Who the hell is this kid?" Naruto asked.

The kid's attention switched to Naruto. He went and caught Naruto by his T-shirt "I know, you are the one who set this trap"

An anime vein popped up on Naruto's forehead as he picked the kid by his neck. "You tripped over your own feet you idiot. Who the hell would put a trap for a midget like you?"

Ebisu shouted at Naruto "Naruto, let him go. He's the Hokage's grandson"

The kid smirked from inside _"Now that he knows who I am, he_ won't_ dare to hurt me. He's just like everyone else" _"Come on then! Go ahead and punch me"

Naruto gave him a punch to his face as he went flying to his tutor, knocking out the latter.

"You think I give a damn"

Naruto walked out of office as Sarutobi chuckled.

"Finally, there is someone who knocked some sense into my grandson".

-XXXXX-

Later, Naruto was walking in the market with an irritated expression on his face since the kid earlier is following him for more than an hour and doing so very poorly. Naruto was expecting the kid to show up or simply go his own way after sometime but his stalker seemed persistent.

Finally, Naruto snapped "Stop following me you moron"

The kid came out of hiding with a smirk on his face "Impressive, you saw through my cover. Though it took you some time, but still I must say you are genius"

Naruto sweat dropped over the kid's comment. Naruto decided that before he loses his temper and smacks the kid, he should better leave this kid alone.

Naruto turned to leave but was immediately stopped by kid who stood in his way.

"I have a proposal for you." The kid was standing with his arms extended to prevent Naruto from leaving.

"Proposal? Let's get it over with" Naruto said tapping his foot on the ground and hands in his pockets.

"I'll make you my boss…" the kid pointed at Naruto.

"Wha…" Naruto was surprised but was quickly interrupted.

"…and in exchange, please teach me that Sexy Jutsu which you defeated gramps with"

"What! You aren't even 10. You are too young to take interest into these…"

Konohamaru cling to Naruto's feet "Please Boss! Please"

Naruto sighed "Fine! I'll teach you"_"I guess that's the only option to get rid of him"_

Konohamaru cheered as he followed Naruto.

-XXXXXXX-

Meanwhile, Ebisu was looking for Konohamaru all over the house, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally, he found a note which Konohamaru wrote for him with crayons.

_"I am sick of you and your boring lectures. I am going to find my new teacher who is more cool and stronger than you."_

"What!" Ebisu screamed as he read the note "Where could he run to?"

He immediately rushed in the hall where Sarutobi was working.

"Hokage-sama, Konohamaru has run away in search of a better teacher than me. Where could he have gone?" Ebisu yanked his hair as different scenarios popped in his mind.

"I hope he didn't went following Naruto since he did some unexpected things an hour ago in front of us"

"What? No!" Ebisu rushed outside to find Konohamaru and bring him back.

-XXXXXX-

"Ok" Naruto said as he was sitting on a log and Konohamaru was standing in front of him like a true henchman "To begin, transform into the most beautiful woman you ever saw"

"Alright" Konohamaru said as he made the seals with his hand "Transform!"

A poof and a fat lady with a weird face appeared out of the smoke.

Naruto sighed _"This is going to take long" _"Let's do this again and this time pay proper attention to whatever you are imagining"

"Yes Boss" Konohamaru mock saluted him.

-XXXXX-

Meanwhile, Ebisu had climbed over the nearest tall building to look at his surroundings.

"Why doesn't he understand? I am an elite tutor. If you learn Shinobi skills from me, becoming Hokage would be much easy. I am his number one shortcut to become Hokage…I guess, I will look in market."

-XXXXX-

**At evening,**

"Alright, I suppose this is it…so finally you have learned it. Now settle down and rest" Naruto said

"Yes Boss" Konohamaru huffed as he accepted the water bottle from Naruto.

Both of them sat there silently for sometime before Naruto broke the silence.

"So you wanted to learn this Jutsu to defeat Hokage-sama?"

Konohamaru nodded.

"By the way, why are you going after your Grandpa all the time?" Naruto asked.

Konohamaru stayed silent for sometime before he answered.

"Grandpa gave me the name Konohamaru. I am named after the village. And even though everyone knows my name, nobody ever calls me that. When someone is talking about me or calling me, all they ever see is the Hokage's grandson. Nobody sees me as me. I am sick of it. That's why I want the Hokage title."

Naruto sighed before he lightly smacked him on head "Idiot, who would acknowledge a brat like you. The Hokage title isn't something a little brat could take."

"Who did you called a little brat?" Konohamaru growled in anger.

"This isn't kids' play moron. If you want this title that bad then…" Naruto paused on purpose.

"Then what" Konohamaru looked like he will attack anytime.

"Then grow up and become a fine Shinobi and protect this village." Naruto side-glanced at him making Konohamaru surprised.

-XXXXX-

Sarutobi was standing on roof of Hokage tower looking at Hokage monuments, when Iruka arrived there.

"Hokage-sama…I have been looking for you." Iruka stood behind Sarutobi.

"Iruka…how are your wounds?" Sarutobi asked without turning.

"Much better, I was wondering if Naruto showed up today for Shinobi Registration?" Iruka asked.

"Yeah"

"He was planning to skip this part. But I lectured him yesterday and forced him that he should become a great shinobi and make village acknowledge his strength." Iruka chuckled but Sarutobi remained serious.

"This may become impossible to Naruto" Sarutobi said.

"Huh!" Iruka too turned serious over this statement.

"As you know the only people that know that Naruto has nine-tailed demon fox sealed inside of him are the shinobi that fought him 12 years ago. And I made a law not to ever mention that to everyone and I have severely punished those who have broken that law. So children don't know that and this is the only thing Naruto has going for him. The 4th wanted the people of Konoha to see Naruto as a hero that was his last wish."

"A hero?" Iruka asked.

"The 4th sealed the Kyuubi into a new born Naruto making him the container of the Nine-tailed Demon Fox. He was hoping that will be the savior of this village. But adults of this village don't see Naruto this way and because of that, the children act the same way."

"Hating without a reason is most dangerous thing of all because there is no way or method to end that… Iruka, do you know?" Sarutobi asked.

"What?"

"When a person hates and doesn't acknowledge someone's existence, their eyes when they look at him are frighteningly cold" Sarutobi said.

Iruka shuddered at the thought of that

"This is a harsh truth but the new Naruto, though more mature, has some different qualities than previous Naruto. This Naruto has less patience, less kindness, less vulnerability and less cheerfulness. If anyone tried to provoke him, the consequences won't be good. The ANBU who was guarding Naruto reported me that Naruto was about to kill one civilian when that person tried to attack Naruto. If this continues, I am afraid that Naruto will turn to darkness one day." Sarutobi said looking at 4th Hokage statue as Iruka was wide-eyed at this statement.

-XXXXXXX-

"I have found you" Ebisu appeared behind Naruto and Konohamaru.

"Here comes your tutor. I suppose it's time you leave" Naruto said to Konohamaru

"_That demon kid…why is he with young master?" _Ebisu glared at Naruto.

"_There we go again with those piercing gazes" _Naruto suppressed a yawn

"Now young master, let's go home" Ebisu turned towards Konohamaru.

"No! I am going to defeat that old geezer and get the Hokage title, so don't get in my way" Konohamaru stood prepared to fight.

"You are too young to become a Hokage. A Hokage must be well taught in every aspect of being a shinobi. You must master 1000 skills and then…" Ebisu proceeded towards Konohamaru

"Shut up" Konohamaru interrupted him "Take this…Sexy no Jutsu!"

Ebisu's mouth hung open on seeing a naked girl in front of him but he managed to keep his composure.

"Huh! It didn't worked" Konohamaru was surprised as he turned into his original body.

"Wha…What a perverted skill" Ebisu screamed "I am a gentleman. Such dirty skills would never work on me"

Ebisu then tried to drag Konohamaru with his scarf "Let's go home. I am the best tutor you can get. If you hang out with a trash like him, you will become stupid. I am your easiest shortcut to becoming Hokage"

"Let me go" Konohamaru yelled.

Now Naruto was seriously pissed. Calling him a trash, comparing him to stupid and then underestimating his Jutsu was more than enough to irritate Naruto.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

15-20 clones of Naruto appeared around Naruto.

"Wow that's amazing" Konohamaru cheered for his Boss

"He he he…How foolish! I am an elite tutor. I am not that weakling Mizuki" Ebisu took his battle stance.

"Transform!"

Before Ebisu could understand anything, several clones of naked girl appeared and clung to Ebisu.

Ebisu's jaw threatened to dislocate and even Konohamaru was shocked.

A second later, Ebisu went flying leaving huge trails of nosebleed behind.

"I call this…Harem no Jutsu" Naruto said as he switched back to his original form.

"That was awesome Boss! You defeated my tutor" Konohamaru was crying tears of joy and hearts in his eyes like a fan boy.

"Ok…I get it. Now calm down" Naruto was feeling uneasy as Konohamaru seemed to be making his own plans in his mind.

"I wish I too could be awesome like you" Konohamaru said "I am totally going to master this trick and defeat Gramps and become the next Hokage"

"You don't get it, do you?" Naruto said "This isn't as easy as you think. This is Hokage we are talking about, the title of the greatest in the village. You may very well lose yourself in the darkness that lies in this path. Just learning all the skills and Jutsu isn't enough, so you better prepare yourself."

Naruto started walking towards village.

"Prepare for what?" Konohamaru asked with a curious look on his face.

"If you want an incredible title like Hokage for yourself…there aren't going to be any shortcuts."

Konohamaru smiled as Naruto kept going far.

"Now stop lecturing me like you know everything. I promise that I will become stronger than you and then one day, I will fight you for the title of Hokage" Konohamaru widely smiled as Naruto just waved without turning back.

"I will be looking forward to that day…Konohamaru" Naruto said his last words before disappearing among trees.

"He…he is so cool" Konohamaru could only utter as he was awe-strucked.

-XXXXX-

Unknown to both of them, 2 persons with animal masks were observing them from a distance.

"Are you affirmative about this?" The first person asked his partner.

"Yes sir. I have made full investigation. He is Minato's son, Uzumaki Naruto." The second person who looked older replied to his partner.

"I see…So he is Naruto, the missing one hmm" The superior one scratched his chin.

"So should we go and…" The elder person said but his superior immediately shook his head in denial.

"Not now. Our purpose was to find him. We are not doing anything until further orders. Am I clear?" The superior whispered in commanding tone.

"Yes sir…So what should we do now?"

"Retreat…We are going back. If there would be anything else where you will be required, you will know. Now, are you sure you have memorized his face?" The superior took out a scroll from his cape.

The elder person nodded.

"Very well, Let's go" both the strangers turned back to disappear in the forests "I will look forward to see you again Naruto".

-XXXXX-

**This brings an end to seventh chapter of this story. The next story will feature Naruto meeting his team. I have my tests coming up so the next chapter might take a week to complete and upload. Therefore, whoever is seriously interested in this story (I hope there are lots ;) ) should read other stories on Naruto fanfic. Believe me, there are lots of superb stories there.**

**Now big question: Who were those 2 strangers?**

**So, till then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! I am back with a new chapter of Naruto: Reborn. As some people might have noticed, I have also started a story for Fairy Tail. If you are also a fan of Natsu, you should check out that story. So the updates will be a bit slower from now on. But don't worry, the story will go on. As long as your motivation and support continues in the form of reviews, PM, follow and favorite, I promise the chapter will keep coming on and on.**

**Now moving to acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**TKLink**

**Faroffinho**

**buterflypuss**

**DexG23**

**For following and favorite me and this story.**

**And special thanks to:**

**Guest**

**Guest**

**thor94**

**NinjaFang1331**

**rhyno770**

**For their reviews.**

**NOTE: ****Please read the Author's notes below. I want to discuss something important**

**Now without further adieu, here is the eighth chapter of this story. Enjoy!**

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Chapter 8: A bastard and a fan girl**_

Beep. Beep. Beep

A hand instinctively reached out of blanket to turn off the alarm clock. And soon Naruto emerged out of the blanket rubbing his eyes. Naruto took a look in the table clock adjacent to his bed.

5:28 am.

Early enough, He had to reach academy by 8 am.

Still getting out of his bed, he went in bathroom, brushed his teeth, took a cold shower and wore his original clothes. Just when he was about to leave the wardrobe, he noticed his Forehead protector lying on the table. He sighed before tying the forehead protector on his forehead.

"All set" Naruto muttered before looking back at clock "7:03! About time I leave for academy".

Naruto then went to his table and prepared breakfast for himself when he noticed that his fridge was basically filled with everything related to ramen.

"_I seriously need to learn some cooking or I would spend all day eating ramen every time I feel hungry" _Naruto thought.

After the breakfast, Naruto locked his apartment and headed to the Academy.

-XXX-

"Hey Boss"

Naruto was on his way to academy when he heard an all too familiar voice of his recent underling.

"Konohamaru! What are you doing here? Stalking again?"

"No way" Konohamaru crossed his arms "I just came to wish you all the best for your Genin days"

Naruto sighs "Thank you. Now just get lost before Ebisu comes again looking for you. I don't want to face that cockroach again" Naruto continued his walk to academy.

Konohamaru laughed as he too accompanied Naruto "You should have seen his face when he woke up later. He is still feeling ashamed since he lost to you in front of me"

Naruto just nodded, already guessing that part long ago.

"Hey, I just remembered the reason why I came to you" Naruto could literally see a light bulb going off over Konohamaru's head.

"Didn't you just say you were here for wishing me?" Naruto said.

"Yeah, but that was a secondary reason. The real reason was something else" Konohamaru began to look in a bag he was carrying on his back.

After some seconds, Konohamaru stood up flashing some adult magazines in front of Naruto.

"I have decided to research some more about Sexy Jutsu so that it becomes unbeatable."

Naruto looked at the magazines with wide-eyes "Where did you get these magazines?"

"I found them in Gramps' office. He has kept them hidden behind the couch." Konohamaru grinned.

Naruto looked towards the 3rd Hokage's statue. _"You will be so proud of your grandson when you will discover his dirty secret, Right Hokage-sama?" _Naruto made a sarcastic comment inside his head.

Somewhere in his office, Sarutobi sneezed "Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden?" he asked himself.

"I guess this is where we part ways" Naruto said as they saw academy in front.

"Alright" Konohamaru said as he punched his fist in air "Now I am going to find my secret training spot and train my best and very soon, I would be able to send you flying with a nosebleed"

"In your dreams moron" Naruto said as Konohamaru rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.

Just when Naruto was entering the academy, Konohamaru shouted

"Do your best Boss and make me proud" Konohamaru shouted with fire in his eyes.

"Geez, what a stupid brat" Naruto muttered before entering his class.

-XXX-

Naruto entered his class to see almost all the students in the class. He just went to his seat and waited for the class to begin.

"Naruto, what the hell" Kiba patted Naruto on his back "Only those who had passed the exam are supposed to be here"

An anime vein appeared on Naruto's forehead. Just because nobody saw him with headband, they seem to think that Naruto failed in the Exam.

"Can't you see the forehead protector dumbass?"

Before Kiba could give a good reply, they were interrupted by a pink-haired girl.

"Hey, will you let me through?"

Naruto and Kiba turned to see Sakura Haruno standing there tapping her foot impatiently.

Kiba growled in his Inazuka style before going back to his seat.

The girl was clearly impatient by now.

"Naruto, move your ass! I want to sit on the other side" Sakura growled.

"Yeah sure" Naruto rolled his eyes before making way for her. The girl immediately clings to a certain black-haired boy. Naruto just shook his head in annoyance. He was grateful that he isn't some popular person unlike the boy on the corner of seat...who was actually glaring daggers at him.

Sasuke Uchiha, the prodigy of the class excelled at every point from skills and looks to the attitude and acting different. He maintained a cold shoulder to everyone so it was a surprise to Naruto when he kept staring at him.

"What?" Naruto finally asked after a long staring contest which ended in a…draw.

"What do you mean by 'what'? You were looking at me as if I am a ramen bowl" Sasuke replied in his cold tone.

Naruto felt his eye twitch at the answer '_That bastard_'. He kept his calm before answering "My bad. I thought I was looking at a duck butt, but later realized it was your face. I was just surprised when you began to act all lovey-dovey with Sakura."

Now it was Sasuke's eye that began to twitch "Are you insinuating that my hairs looks like a duck butt?"

Sakura could only squeak as she felt her cheeks getting pink and imagining Sasuke falling for her.

Still she managed to get a serious face "Don't trouble Sasuke-kun you idiot"

"Hey keep it a bit low you big forehead" Ino Yamanaka, the arch-rival of Sakura, shouted from behind.

"Back off Ino pig" Sakura yelled back "And I thought you too are a fan of Sasuke-kun"

"Of course I am" Ino replied "but don't you think that even Naruto is looking a little cuter today?"

Naruto slammed his head on the table. "Just shut up"

"So what? Sasuke-kun is still the best" Sakura said with heart in her eyes.

Naruto made a mental note there.

Fan girls, whoever they follow, are annoying.

-XXX-

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi" Iruka began his farewell lecture "But you are still Genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just started. Now you will soon get mission to help the village. I hope you will follow your dreams and achieve great heights in your life. So today we will create the 3 person teams and each team will have a Jounin Sensei. You will follow your sensei's instructions to complete your missions."

Sasuke- _"Pfft…3 person teams? That only means more people in my way"_

Sakura- _"I just have to be in the same team as Sasuke-kun"_

Naruto- _"Doesn't matter. Just give me 2 guys who are not annoying like the 2 psychos on my bench"_

Teams just kept on going till Team 6.

"Now next is Team 7" Iruka announced.

"Haruno Sakura"

Sakura's interest perked up

"Uchiha Sasuke"

"Hell yeah" Sakura screamed in excitement.

"… and Uzumaki Naruto"

Naruto repeatedly banged his face on table "What…the…hell!"

Even Sakura too stood up and asked "Iruka sensei! Why does a prick like him…" Sakura pointed at Naruto "…have to be on the same team as Sasuke-kun and me?"

Naruto gave a pointed glare to Sakura who was still fuming about team.

Iruka sighed "Sasuke's grades were the best of all 30 graduates and Naruto's were dead last. You do understand we have to do this to balance the teams' right?"

The whole class laughed on the reply.

"Bah, just don't get in my way Dobe (dead last)" Sasuke told Naruto as the latter kept quiet.

"…Still, that was due to Naruto's absence the whole year. But his performance in test and academics record clearly proves his capability. If I only compare the final test, I think Naruto was at par with Sasuke…or even better. I am sure Naruto will be an excellent shinobi soon" Iruka smiled at his own words.

"Same goes for you Teme (bastard)" Naruto replied to Sasuke.

Both of them glared at each other to the point that anyone can see sparks flowing between their eyes. Sakura who was sitting in the middle sighed.

Even Iruka sweat-dropped _"I hope this team makes a good impression and this will work out for Naruto too" _

"OK. I am announcing the remaining teams and after that we will have a break and this afternoon, we will introduce your Jounin sensei to you. So now moving on to team 8…"

-XXX-

Naruto utilized the break to go to Ichiraku for lunch.

"Ah…Naruto-kun, welcome back. How was your day?" Ayame asked as she saw Naruto climbing over a stool.

"Pretty normal Ayame-san" Naruto replied as he waited for his ramen to arrive.

"Call me Nee-chan. You look so adorable doing that" Ayame flashed a big smile "By the way, what about your team and teammates?"

"Team 7" Naruto saw Teuchi putting chopsticks and spoon in his ramen "Apart from me, there are Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Both of them are big morons if you ask me"

"Fancy hearing you say that" Teuchi too joined the conversation since Naruto was the only customer in the shop "Because the last time I remember 4 years ago, you had a crush on Sakura. You were completely head-over-heels for her."

Naruto coughed up some ramen on hearing that. Ayame passed a glass of water to Naruto who accepted it after a quick apology while Teuchi and Ayame kept snickering.

"Really?" Naruto asked after he drank the water.

"Yup" Ayame replied while snickering "You found her too cute and wonderful"

Naruto grunted something about his 'loose tongue and stupid brain back then' before replying "She's as cute as a Wendigo. I don't know what led me thinking like that back then, but I am sure as hell that she isn't a wonderful person at all"

"I am sure you will like her once you know her" Teuchi said.

"Whatever" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"What about Sasuke?" Ayame asked.

"He's one big piece of jerk" Naruto said as he stuffed his mouth with noodles.

"Aw, don't be like that. I was hoping you two will get along very well since both of you are orphans" Ayame said.

Naruto sighed before he shook his head "I wonder if that Teme will get along with anyone. He is self-conscious to great heights"

"Great, so you are out with nicknames too" Teuchi smiled "By the way you too are self-conscious"

"At least, I am not a jerk" Naruto said annoyed.

Teuchi and Ayame laughed "Sure you aren't"

"So any idea about anything important related to Genin life?" Naruto asked.

"Hmmm…all I know is that you will begin with D-rank missions like cleaning any pond, babysitting small children, small deliveries around the village, escorting within the village etc…and yes, one of the most common mission is catching cats. But before you become Genin, you will have to appear in another certain test" Teuchi said.

"Certain test! What's this test?"

"I don't know. It keeps changing from time to time and even different sensei takes different tests. Also, some things are better to be figured out when time comes." Teuchi said.

Naruto shrugged "Alright. I should take my leave. Thanks for the ramen Old Man. Bye Nee-san"

Teuchi and Ayame waved back as more customers arrived at the shop.

"Naruto, Sasuke &amp; Sakura, what do you say Ayame?" Teuchi asked his daughter.

Ayame made a thinking pose before replying "I think it's going to be the best team this year"

-XXX-

Sakura was sitting on bench outside academy thinking about how unfair it is that Naruto is in the same team as her and love of her life Sasuke-kun. He will make things difficult between duos. Still she must find a way to make a move on Sasuke before any other girl steals his precious Sasuke-kun and if Naruto comes in between…THE END.

Suddenly she got a familiar feeling and when she lifted her head she saw Sasuke coming there.

She beamed as she ran towards Sasuke "Hey Sasuke-kun, I still can't believe I am in your team. I hope we can both become a great team and be the best team of Konoha. Do you know Sasuke-kun, when it was announced that I will be in your team, I felt something in my…"

"Shut up, I have to go. Where is Naruto?" Sasuke looked around.

Sakura was annoyed that her confession was cut-off.

"Hey, who cares about Naruto, that pathetic loser" Sakura said with a mocking laugh "All he does is causing fights with everyone"

Sasuke looked at Sakura.

"Well he doesn't have parents. From what I heard, his parents died the same day as he was born. He didn't even know who his parents are. He doesn't have a normal childhood like us. What could you expect, he's different than us."

Sasuke flinched at her words. How can she talk so carelessly about such topic as if it didn't mean a thing?

"He can do whatever he want" Sakura continued unaware of Sasuke's reaction "If I acted like that, my parents would ground me for months. He's so lucky, all alone, parents never say what to do and what not to do. He's annoying" Sakura laughed but stopped when she saw Sasuke clenching his fist.

"All alone…"

"Huh?" Sakura was surprised to hear Sasuke's heavy tone.

"…the feeling of parent yelling at you is nowhere what he feels…"

Now Sakura was a bit shaky "What's wrong Sasuke-kun?"

"…you could never understand the feeling of being alone" Sasuke turned back angrily glaring at Sakura "You are annoying"

Sakura was stunned on hearing Sasuke's reply. There goes her plan to impress Sasuke and make a move on him. To hear the exact same words she use against Naruto, and that also from the love of her life, hurt Sakura.

"Glad to know…"

Sasuke and Sakura looked above to see Naruto sitting over one of the branches of tree.

"…that someone has same thinking as me" Naruto said after he jumped down and landed in front of them.

"Naruto, since when have you been there?" Sakura asked.

"Just when you began my description" Naruto replied without even looking at Sakura resulting in Sakura looking down in shame.

"I wasn't talking about you" Sasuke said.

"And I am glad for it since there are certain things that make us different. It would be best if you don't compare us." Naruto replied.

"Naruto…I…I am sorry" Sakura finally replied.

"Don't be…"

Sakura was relieved on hearing that.

"…after all, this is the least I could expect from the daughter of the person who is a prominent member of a group who is so persistent about killing me. I really was expecting more from you" Naruto said in a sarcastic tone.

Sakura was stunned to hear that while Sasuke just narrowed his eyes.

"Anyways, it's getting late already. We should wait in our class till our sensei arrives" Naruto said going towards academy.

"Naruto…"

Naruto turned behind to see Sasuke glaring at him.

"Fight me…"

Now it was Naruto who narrowed his eyes while Sakura looked helplessly where the things are going.

"There always seemed to be a different aura around you back. But recently, your aura has changed. I want to see how much exactly you have changed"

They stood like that almost for a minute with eyes locked to each other both of them refusing to back down, after which Naruto broke the silence.

"Like hell I would fight now"

Sasuke and Sakura were surprised.

"Our sensei could be here any time. I don't want to show them any bruised faces and set a bad example on first impression. So keep your challenge for some other time"

Naruto resumed his walk to the academy building.

Sasuke sighed and mentally hit himself for what he just said. Why did he seem so eager to fight with Naruto? He had no answer as he too followed Naruto with Sakura tailing him terribly confused with whatever is going on.

-XXX-

"Ah, so this is Naruto's apartment" A masked figure entered the room through window and looked around.

"Nothing unusual or out of place" the masked man rubbed his chin.

"I wonder why Hokage-sama asked me to investigate their rooms. They might be waiting in the academy for me" the masked figure thought

He saw a note sticking on the fridge about lack of food and to buy some groceries today.

"Hmm…so this house doesn't even have some edibles. I think it's about time I visit the next apartment. There isn't anything interesting here" the masked figure went outside through same window and properly locked it

If he had seen closer, he would have noticed an unusual scroll lying among the pile of clothes.

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

**This brings an end to eighth chapter of the story. The next story will focus on Team 7 meeting their sensei and preparation for the 'certain test'. I am glad that I have been receiving positive reviews about the story and you people are supporting this story.**

**Now, there is something I want to discuss. I had already mentioned previously that Naruto won't end up with Sakura, Ino, Hinata or someone from the leaf. Now I want suggestions about Sasuke. Who do you want Sasuke to pair with? I am starting a poll about Sasuke's pairing. Please vote your favorite Sasuke X _ pair.**

**I will be back soon with the new chapter. Until then, it's a good bye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi everyone. I am back with a new chapter. Last time, I mentioned about a poll on my profile and asked you people to vote your favorite pairing for Sasuke. Till now, I only received 6 votes.**

**The fewer votes can only be because of two reasons: either you don't care about whom gets paired up with Sasuke or you don't try to read the Author's notes. If it's the first case, I humbly respect your views but if it's second, I am saddened by this approach. Anyways, just so you know, the voting will be closed after release of chapter 15. So please vote.**

**Moving to acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**CastiellsMyAngel**

**Meresdreams**

**Readsalot2002**

**MiYuki Kurama**

**hananodoku**

**MonkHerrick**

**Van der Ay**

**Okea**

**Evan Akira-kun**

**Alexwalker18**

**alizyk**

**Ashans23**

**Benii-Senkou**

**Magy-chan**

**Serendipity1212**

**urbansquidly**

**xxHiddenchaos**

**RandomWriter21**

**Kilroy7087 for following and favorite me and my story**

**And special thanks to:**

**divergentlover523**

**NinjaFang1331**

**RandomWriter21**

**Buterflypuss**

**LadyEudave05 (welcome back. Missed your reviews)**

**MonkHerrick**

**Korohoshi**

**Meresdreams **

**for the awesome reviews.**

**And a really big thanks to ****Van der Ay** **for listing my story in his community. Thanks a lot for this. It really feels special.**

**Now without any further adieu, here is the ninth chapter of the story. Enjoy!**

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Chapter 9: Meet Our Sensei**_

Tap

Tap

Tap…

"Will you stop doing that? You are disturbing me" Naruto said to Sakura who was anxiously pacing in the classroom.

It has been hours but still Team 7's sensei was still nowhere to be seen.

"Where the heck is our sensei?" Sakura said to no one as she kept pacing around ignoring Naruto's protest "All the other teams have already gone home after meeting their sensei and we are still sitting in the class"

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on the front row seats. Naruto was trying to take a nap ignoring Sakura's mumblings, while Sasuke was lost in his own world.

The door opened and a masked ninja peeped inside "Is this Team 7?"

"Yeah, this is Team 7" Sakura said pleased that their sensei finally showed up.

"Hold on a sec. I know you. You are that guy who…" Naruto stopped in time before revealing that he is the same person who stopped him when he was about to kill the leader of the group that attacked him on his Genin Test Day.

"Oh…so we meet again" the masked ninja waved at Naruto.

Sasuke looked between their sensei and Naruto to find any clue to whatever happened between them, but was unsuccessful as neither opened their mouth further about the incident.

The masked ninja looked at all 3 of them and tried to analyze them. None of them looked any special to him.

"Hmm…How can I say this?" the masked ninja rubbed his forehead "My first impression is I don't like you guys"

"_Dumbass" _all three of them thought at once.

"Alright, meet me at the rooftop. Unfortunately, it's my job to find something useful about useless people. Don't be late" The masked ninja turned behind to walk to rooftop.

If the masked ninja had turned behind, he would have seen 3 pairs of twitching eyebrows of his new students.

-XXX-

"Well let's begin with introducing yourselves" their sensei said.

"What do you want to know?" Sasuke asked.

"How about your likes, dislikes, your dreams for the future and things like that?" the ninja asked.

"Then why don't you introduce yourself to us first?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, you look kind of suspicious" Sakura supported Naruto.

"Oh me? Well my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future hmm…And I have lots of hobbies" Kakashi replied.

"_So all he told us is his name" _All 3 of them shared the same thought.

"So you on the left, begin" Kakashi pointed towards Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is… (looks at Sasuke)…well the person I like is…and um, my dream for the future… (lets out a girlish scream still looking towards Sasuke). My hobby is…" Sakura was heavily blushing by now "and what I dislike is… Naruto"

Naruto just sighed, already aware of the answer.

"_Nothing new. Girls like her age are more interested in love, relationship and boys rather than mission, team and village" _Kakashi thought.

"Ok. Now the one in the middle" Kakashi continued.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And I don't have a dream, but I have an ambition. It is resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man"

"_Cool"_ Sakura thought.

"_Like I thought"_ Kakashi said to himself.

Naruto just yawned not even affected by least.

"Now the last one" Kakashi said.

"Myself Uzumaki Naruto, I don't particularly have any likes but I really hate snakes more than anything else. As for my dreams, I haven't thought much about that for some days, but now that you mention, I do have a certain goal. I want to find a certain man" Naruto's eyes turned red "and kill him in most ruthless way possible…"

The other 2 genins looked at him in a troubled way.

"…I will destroy everything that would stop me from reaching him…and once I am done with him, I am going to leave this place forever where I am never welcome" Naruto said as the redness in his eyes disappeared.

The other 3 looked at him in a horrified way.

"_What were those red eyes? And what the hell did Naruto said about leaving the village? Did he just actually challenged Kakashi sensei?" _Sasuke thought while glaring at Naruto.

"_I never knew Naruto had such a dangerous goal"_ Sakura thought_ "I just hope that person isn't someone of this village"_

"As for hobbies…sleeping and reading, I guess" Naruto finished in his usual calm tone

"_He really is serious about kidnapper, and that redness was definitely Kyuubi's effect. But now the part about leaving the village turned it even more serious. Hokage-sama definitely needs to know this. I have to be very careful with him." _Kakashi thought.

"Alright, that concludes the introductions. Tomorrow we will start our duties as shinobi"

All 3 of them nodded in approval.

"But first, we are going to do something with just the 4 of us, survival training"

"Why is our first duty a training?" Sasuke asked.

"We've had enough training at the academy" Sakura too agreed.

"This isn't a normal training. This time, I will be your opponent" Kakashi said.

"I don't like the sound of this" Naruto muttered.

Kakashi smirked.

"What's so funny Sensei?" Sakura asked in a doubtful tone.

"Oh well, it's just that when I will tell you this, you guys are totally going to freak out" Kakashi said.

"Freak out?" Sakura asked in a doubtful tone.

"Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen to become a Genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66%" Kakashi told his students.

The 3 of them were freaked out but still they didn't let it show in their face.

"Oh, and if you are wondering about the point of graduating, that was just to select those who have the change to become genin" Kakashi added "Anyway, tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground. Bring all the shinobi tools you have, and skip breakfast. You might throw up"

"_Pft, now this just makes it a real deal. I can't fail here. If I fail, then my dream will break. No, I have to survive until I found him, and then I will…"_ Naruto was having a hard time controlling his rage.

"The details are on this page, I will meet you tomorrow at training grounds. Don't be late tomorrow" Kakashi said as he disappeared with a small blast of smoke.

"_If I fail this, I will be separated from Sasuke-kun. This is a test of love!" _Sakura was freaking from inside.

Sasuke just crumpled his paper to relieve his stress.

Naruto just checked his paper to find any relief, but to his disappointment, there weren't any.

All 3 of them had only one thought at that moment "Tomorrow or Never"

-XXX-

It was already evening by the time when Team 7 decided to return their home. Sakura was trying to start a conversation with Sasuke, only to be completely ignored.

As for Naruto, he was simply kicking pebbles on the road while walking, silently laughing on Sakura's futile try.

Finally Team 7 reached the bisection which leads to Uchiha compound.

"Ne Sasuke-kun, let's do our best tomorrow and complete the survival training" Sakura beamed at Sasuke.

"Hn, I can do this on my own. I don't even need anyone's help for this" Sasuke gave a cold glare to his teammates.

"Wow, you really are one good boy, aren't you?" Naruto made a sarcastic comment.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. All day, both of them were trying to get on each other's nerves. Sasuke had the upper hand, but Naruto settled the score with this.

"Now I would leave you 2 alone for your private conversations" Naruto said and Sasuke got irked on seeing Sakura's blush "but before that, a piece of advice for you, don't even think about skipping the breakfast. Something tells me this is some bluff"

"You mad or what, Kakashi sensei specifically mentioned that the training can even make us throw up" Sasuke said.

"It's your over-smartness that will eventually cost you one day. You should better listen to Sasuke-kun and follow sensei's advice" Sakura immediately added her reply with Sasuke.

Naruto just shrugged on listening "It's your choice. I was just suggesting"

Naruto turned to leave as Sasuke said loud enough for Naruto to hear "I hope you won't regret filling your tummy with some nasty ramen"

The way Naruto clenched his fists showed that job was done. So Sasuke wins for today.

"Yeah yeah, now just go and stuff your face with tomatoes or something like that" Naruto said before disappearing.

Sasuke felt his eye twitching. There was no way Naruto knew his love of tomatoes.

Sasuke just grunted and disappeared in his house. **Change of result. Naruto wins with bonus point.**

Sakura just stood dumbfounded over the slip of the chance where she and her Sasuke-kun could spend some time alone.

-XXX-

Knock knock

"Come in" Sarutobi said while looking outside through window.

The door opened and Kakashi entered inside.

"Oh, it's you Kakashi, I was expecting you" Sarutobi said as he took his seat behind the desk and motioned his visitor to take a seat also.

Kakashi nodded thanks to Sarutobi as he took his seat in front of the desk.

"So, what interesting things did you found about your team?" Sarutobi asked in a non-serious tone.

"Well" Kakashi scratched his head "Sakura is just like any normal girl. She is focused only on Sasuke and rivalry with other girls. Sasuke and Naruto are the one that worries me most"

"How about you tell me whatever is worrying about those two?" Sarutobi said in a serious tone now.

"I was coming to that. Sasuke, as you expected, is focused on resurrection of his clan and finding the murderer. His eyes clearly show that he cares for the village as long as it helps him achieve his target. If we tried to stop him or tried to avert his path, he can turn against us and the village"

Sarutobi nodded after Kakashi finished "We won't want that since he is the last Uchiha and no rouge ninja ended up well. He needs to be handled carefully"

Kakashi agreed as he continued his report "As for Naruto, he is concerned about the kidnapper, finding and killing him, but most surprising fact is that he had decided that once he managed to complete his goal, he is going to leave this village"

This took Sarutobi by surprise though he tried his best to hide that surprise.

"The reason he gave is that he never felt welcome in this village. Furthermore, he already has some control over Kyuubi. It may be by himself or because of that certain kidnapper. I am seriously hoping though that it is former case"

Sarutobi nodded.

"So what do you suggest Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.

"As for Sasuke, I think we have to make sure that he won't ever hear of that certain man. He is still an amateur genin and if he heard of his brother, he would blindly rush to that man and will most likely get himself killed" Sarutobi said and Kakashi showed his agreement "Naruto's case is bit different. He had already decided that he is going to leave the village. We have 2 choices. Either the villagers change their minds about Naruto or the few people that actually still care for Naruto convince him to change his mind. I am relying heavily on the second option since it will still take years for villagers to change their mind" Sarutobi finished.

"Why can't we keep a watch on him?" Kakashi asked.

"No. That would only result in him feeling like some prisoner. And if he really felt that way, his desire of escaping the village would only increase" Sarutobi said after lighting his cigar.

"You are being really soft toward him" Kakashi added with a chuckle

"Yes, I have to. For us, he is Naruto but for many others in this and other villages, he is either a monster or a mere tool. If we want Naruto to be a hero that Fourth Hokage dreamt of, we have to make sure that he never falls into darkness" Sarutobi sighed as he blew out some smoke from his cigar.

"Team 7 will have their survival training tomorrow. Please don't expect me to go soft on them like you do" Kakashi said as he prepared to leave.

"I don't expect any leniency from you" Sarutobi said "Still, I want you to make them realize that you are leagues ahead of them in terms of power. Sasuke and Naruto are only looking for strong people. If they realize that you can help them to become strong, they will stick to you until they surpass you. You are the only suitable sensei to them"

Kakashi smiled "Thank you for considering me for this position. Let's see if they can work together or not"

Sarutobi nodded as Kakashi left his office and went his home.

"Old days sure are more stressful" Sarutobi sighed as he stood up and went to look out through window with his cigar in his hand.

-XXX-

Next day, Team 7 was already present in the training grounds and was busy in their usual work namely; Sakura trying to make a move on Sasuke with latter being his cool and ignorant self and ignoring Sakura's advances. While Naruto was his usual loner, sitting a bit away from the duo and reading a book on quick and efficient traps.

"Kakashi sensei told us to arrive at training ground by 7am and it's already 10am and he isn't here. What's taking him that long?" Sakura wondered trying to scoot closer to Sasuke as Sasuke remained out of her physical boundaries.

"Who knows? Maybe he fell in a pond yesterday and he caught cold" Naruto suggested.

Sasuke rolled his eyes "Only you are stupid enough to even think something like that"

They are interrupted by the arrival of said person.

"Hey guys! Good morning" Kakashi greeted his students with a wave of his hand.

"You are late" Sakura shouted "How can you be so casual about it?"

"Sorry, I just got lost on the path to this ground" Kakashi said with a shrug.

"Grr…you can't even make any good excuses" Sakura said as the team followed Kakashi inside training grounds.

All 3 of them took out their important equipments and placed bags on sides.

Kakashi took out his countdown timer and placed it above one of the wooden stumps.

"Ok, it's set for noon" Kakashi said as he started the timer "Now for your task" Kakashi took out 2 small bells from his pocket "Here are the two bells. Your task is to obtain these bells from me before the times up"

"_2 bells" _All 3 of them thought.

"_So this is what old man Teuchi was speaking about…Hehe…definitely a surprise"_ Naruto smirked.

"Those who don't have a bell by noon, gets no lunch. I will not only tie you to one of those stumps but I will also eat my lunch in front of you" Kakashi said.

Sasuke and Sakura's expression dropped _"So that's why he told us not to eat" _Naruto too was feeling hungry but still he managed to make a straight face.

"You only have to get one bell. There are two, so one of you will definitely be tied to the stump and the person who doesn't get a bell will fail this test. So, one of you will go back to academy for sure"

All 3 of them took their stance.

"If you want, you can use shuriken and kunai knives. You won't succeed until you come at me intending to kill me" Kakashi said in a serious tone.

"But you will be in danger" Sakura interjected.

"I don't know about the other, but I am taking one of those bells. Let the fate decide the other person who accompanies me" Naruto said as Sakura and Sasuke turned to him showing their untrustworthy face.

"_Like hell…It will be me and Sasuke-kun who will pass the test. I feel sorry for Naruto for going back to academy" _Sakura thought.

"_I don't care about the other person as long as I am the one who pass the test" _sauke eyed the bells.

"In the real world, those with no talent bark the loudest" Kakashi clarified much to the annoyance of Naruto "I would like to see you holding up to your words Mr. Dead Last"

Naruto got irked with the title and was about to revolt, but before he could even move an inch, his arm was locked behind his head by none other than Kakashi who appeared behind as soon as he felt Naruto getting aggressive.

"Calm down boy. I haven't said start yet" Kakashi patted his head.

Sakura was surprised _"No way, I couldn't even see"_

Sasuke smirked _"So this is jounin"_

Surprisingly, even Naruto smiled "But sensei…"

Poof! And Naruto disappeared

"…I am actually here"

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke looked ahead to see Naruto sitting on one of the stumps eating an apple.

"Shadow clone huh" Kakashi smirked.

"Indeed. I wasn't joking when I said I am going to take one of the bells, and now with something in my belly, I think I have a bit advantage over these 2 lovebirds"

Sasuke looked ready to chew Naruto alive while Sakura blushed with heart in her eyes.

"So you actually went ahead to eat something even though I told you not to eat?" Kakashi asked.

"You and I know very well that you told this only because you wanted us unprepared for whatever you were planning and sad enough, I saw through it" Naruto said as he walked back to his teammates.

"Alright, let's see how well you perform now" Kakashi said "Now enough talking. Let's get going. Ready…

BEGIN!

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**And the test begins…**

**This brings an end to ninth chapter of the story. I hope you liked it.**

**I have my semester exams next month. So I am going to prepare for the exams and I am putting all my fanfiction works on hiatus. I would be back by first or second week of July. I am deeply thankful to all those who reviewed this story and motivated me to keep on updating and even more thankful to people who read the Author's notes. (Please tell me your name so that I know who I should thank)**

**I may sound like someone who is giving a farewell message, but believe me, I will surely return by the time I mentioned.**

**Until then, it's a goodbye and happy summer holidays from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi everyone. First of all, my sincere apologies to those who were expectantly waiting for the next chapter. For those who have forgotten me, I am NBD. I know I told that I would be back till first and second week of July and I am officially a month late for the chapter but that was because my PC had some malfunctioning and I was unable to connect to internet.**

**I opened my fanfiction account just 3 days ago after last update completely ready to encounter any hate messages or requests for quick updates but I got only one such message. Thank you guys for being so patient.**

**Now moving to acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**km1526**

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**for following and favorite me and this story**

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**For the awesome reviews**

**Now, without any further adieu, here is the tenth chapter of the story. Enjoy!**

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_**The Test Begins**_

At Kakashi's signal, all 3 of them scattered and hid somewhere.

Kakashi looked around to check and indeed all 3 of them were nowhere to be found.

"The most important thing for a shinobi is to be able to hide yourself" Kakashi talked to himself as he rubbed his neck "and it looks like they are all hidden very well"

Sasuke was hiding over a tree, from where he could have a clear view of Kakashi.

Sakura was lying under a bush from where she could see Kakashi and could retreat back into the bush if Kakashi is close.

Naruto too was sitting on a branch which was a bit closer to where Kakashi was standing, but it was a well-hidden place with visibility equal to just a peep hole and clear hearing to whatever Kakashi is saying.

"Let's find where those brats are hidden" Kakashi was about to go looking for them but stopped "Oh wait! Why should I go and find them? After all, if they want to pass the test, they would come to find me instead" Kakashi smiled as he congratulated himself for good thinking.

Just when Kakashi was about to rest a bit, a huge explosion occurred where Kakashi was standing.

Sasuke and Sakura were wide-eyed at the sudden explosion.

Just when the duo were about to rush to the spot, they heard Naruto's voice as the smoke began to clear.

"Well well… I don't think you were bluffing when you said we have to come with the intention to kill" Naruto could be seen standing as the smoke cleared.

"Hmm, I am honored that you acknowledged me" Kakashi said as he appeared unscathed.

"_Kakashi sensei completely survived this!_" Sakura was really surprised

Sasuke concentrated on the interaction between Naruto and Kakashi.

"It was about time you came out. I knew that you would be the first one to appear" Kakashi said.

"What can I say?" Naruto shrugged "I guess I have the least patience among 3 of us"

"Ok. Now… like it or not, you are out in the field, and you can't escape now" Kakashi glared.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to do that" Naruto assured

"So what do you plan to do?" Kakashi asked slightly amused

"Simple, we fight, I win, take one of those bell and retreat" Naruto said in such a casual way that the other 3 face-palmed themselves.

"What a fool" Sasuke grumbled "He's actually trying to provoke him"

"Ah…those were some big words coming from you. That won't make things easier for you anyway" Kakashi said "And uhm… you are little bit off"

"_Don't tell me he already noticed_" Naruto said to himself.

"The only thing that's a bit off is your hair cut" Naruto replied.

"I have a feeling that Kakashi won't be pleased with this" Sasuke said to himself.

"Really?" Kakashi said "Now you have made me a little bit annoyed"

"In other words, the fight is officially on" Naruto said as he charged towards Kakashi

Kakashi put his hand in his ninja pouch.

Naruto stopped in his tracks to see whatever Kakashi is pulling out.

"You are a little undisciplined. I have to correct that. Shinobi fighting lesson #1 Taijutsu, I will show you. Give me your best shot" Kakashi said.

Naruto raised his eyebrows "_Taijutsu is shinobi hand to hand combat. Then why is he pulling out a weapon?"_

Kakashi pulled out a book from his pocket much to the trio's surprise.

"_Don't tell me all he brought in his ninja pouch is some book?!" _Sasuke thought.

"_What's with that book? Is that some new jutsu?" _Sakura thought.

"_Of all things, he pulled out a book? And what's with that title? 'Come come paradise'…Is that some children's story book?" _Naruto thought.

"Hey, what's wrong? Hurry up and attack me. What are you waiting for?" Kakashi asked as he opened the book.

Naruto awkwardly pointed his finger to the book "What's with the book?"

"Oh, this…I just want to know what happens next" Kakashi said as he finally found his bookmark.

Naruto felt his eyes twitch with anger "_To think I almost blasted him minutes ago, and he still care to take me that lightly, are you kidding me?" _Naruto was pissed off.

"But don't worry, it won't make a difference against you guys, esp. when I am facing 'Dead last of the year' that is so full of himself" Kakashi said turning the pages.

It took a moment for the words to sink in Naruto's head, but when it settled… let's just say, Naruto was completely fuming.

Naruto could see the words **'Dead Last of the year'** hanging in the air and lots of glitters and flowers falling around those words.

That's it. Naruto had completely lost it.

"You shouldn't have said that" Naruto said as he rushed to attack.

Naruto's fist was completely blocked by Kakashi using his free hand. Next Naruto tried a roundhouse kick but Kakashi easily ducked through it. Just when Naruto was about to go for another punch, Kakashi appeared behind him.

"A shinobi isn't supposed to get caught from behind" Kakashi said.

Sakura noticed Kakashi making hand seals and immediately understood that Kakashi is using a Fire type Jutsu.

Despite the danger of her being found out, she shouted "NARUTO! RUN AWAY! YOU ARE GOING TO GET KILLED"

"Crap" Naruto tried to jump but his feet were stuck in the ground somehow.

"Too late" Kakashi said.

Sasuke and Sakura saw a glint in Kakashi's eye as he shouted "Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique: A 1000 YEARS OF PAIN!"

Naruto went flying shouting a long stretched 'bastard' and fell in the river as the other two sweat-dropped.

"…That isn't a jutsu. Supreme Technique, my foot. That was just a powerful ass poke" Sakura said to herself.

"Two total idiots…and one of them is supposed to be our sensei, damn" Sasuke grumbled as he saw Naruto went flying.

"Hmm, that was easy" Kakashi said as he resumed his reading.

Sasuke, though he would never admit, was a little disappointed. He was hoping that Naruto will at least put Kakashi on defensive even for a short while, and that's when he would attack and take a bell.

"He's a Jounin. How can we ever beat him?" Sakura said to herself a little relieve that she still was hidden "What can we do? This is so unfair"

Some moments later, 3 shuriken come flying from underwater towards Kakashi who didn't even glanced at them and simply caught them in his fingers.

It was when Naruto emerged out of the water and coughed before sitting on one of the rocks.

"Hey, what's wrong? This is no time to rest. If you didn't get a bell before noon, you won't get any lunch and I will personally tie you to those poles" Kakashi said.

"I know. Just shut up and let me get my breath back" Naruto snapped.

"You sure are weak for someone who is persistent on going to run away from village and find your certain man" Kakashi chuckled.

"Stop frustrating me and just so you know, I am still doing better than those 2 idiots who may be cuddling to themselves and rubbing their stomach somewhere" Naruto said.

Just as Naruto said that, a little roar came from Sasuke's stomach.

"_Damn you Naruto. Did you have to bring that up?" _Sasuke cursed.

Sakura too began to helplessly drool after being reminded of food "_I'm on a diet and didn't eat last night, and since he told us to skip breakfast…Ah, somebody help!"_

"Anyway, you are clearly out of breath. It's no use wasting time on you" Kakashi said as he turned on his feet.

"I was frustrated so I just got a little careless. That's all!" Naruto said.

"Carelessness can be your worst enemy, you know?" Kakashi said as he once again got lost in his book.

"Looks like I have no other way, huh?" Naruto stood up.

A huge splash and several Naruto clones came out of water.

Kakashi turned in time to avoid a flying kick from one of those clones.

"My trademark **Shadow Clone no Jutsu!**" Naruto said stretching his hands "I would suggest you better close your book before I begin"

"_1, 2, 3…8? What kind of jutsu is this? They all seem real enough"_ Sasuke thought.

"_What? Those aren't illusions, are they all real? How did Naruto do it?" _Sakura thought.

"Not just clones, but shadow clones, a skill that multiplies your body and not just make an illusion" Kakashi said _"So this is the forbidden jutsu he used to defeat Mizuki"_

"Now then" Naruto wiped some water from his face as his clones stood along with him "You were saying something about Shinobi Lesson #1"

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Sarutobi Asuma was standing behind a tree with his blades in the hands, ready for the attack anytime. Just then he felt rustle of leaf at right and a moment later, a big human rolling boulder was coming at him at full speed. Asuma jumped sideways to avoid Choji's attack but as soon as he came under sunlight again, a long snake like shadow began following him, but soon enough it retraced back.

"Oh well" Asuma rubbed his forehead once he realized coast is clear "Leave it to Shikamaru to realize the purpose of test. I don't think I am going to last long if they didn't run out of their chakra. However…on the positive side" Asuma took a look at training ground where Ino was tied to one of the pole and she was screaming and cussing for last 15 minutes "I have one of their teammates already captured"

"Now Choji!"

Asuma turned behind to see the large boulder coming towards him once again.

"_All 3 of them have guts to fight till last drop of chakra. I might have to give a little lesson to Ino on cooperation but all in all, they are fine. I guess Team 10 is actually ready to become genins_" Asuma thought as he once again jumped away from the boulder

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Kurenai was standing facing off Kiba as the latter paired up with Akamaru was raining a barrage of attacks.

"You are not escaping this time sensei" Kiba growled at Kurenai

"_Kiba is faster than his other two teammates. But I guess, he is the weakest when it comes to my specialty Genjutsu. Hinata has yet to master her Byakugan powers. Shino is the more calculating one but he is weak when it comes to close combat. I have yet to see the three of them attacking together, but still they come to aid when they feel that one of their teammate needs help."_

Kiba growled in frustration as Kurenai once again disappeared among trees.

"Not again! Shino, use your bugs or whatever to find Kurenai sensei again" Kiba said.

"I can't. I think your dog can locate her with the smell" Shino said.

"Umm guys…" Hinata tried to interject

"Don't call him dog you moron. His name is Akamaru. He's not some mere dog" Kiba shouted.

Akamaru barked in affirmation

"Guys…" Hinata tried again.

"I can't find her with my insects. I at least need some clue like where she went or her scent" Shino said.

"Oh whatever, just admit that you are useless" Kiba said.

"Guys!" Hinata tried louder this time and it immediately got the attention of two males (and a dog).

"Kurenai sensei…is right in front of us… we…we are…We are under a Genjutsu" Hinata said nervously.

"Say what?" Kiba practically screamed as the Genjutsu was lifted and Kurenai was standing there.

Shino still kept his stoic expression, while Hinata kept playing with her fingers.

"Come on you three. Not much time is left before lunch" Kurenai said.

"Alright, this time we will get her, Right Akamaru?" Kiba showed his fangs.

Akamaru barked in response.

"_All 3 of them have great capabilities and they could very well be the strongest team of this year. I think Team 9 is ready to become genins" _Kurenai once again prepared for the fight.

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Naruto and his clones were doing fine against Kakashi. But Naruto was clearly struggling now and Sasuke and Sakura were still hidden waiting for an opening to attack.

"You probably can hold this for a minute. No matter how many you line up, you are still Naruto. You can't beat me with that Jutsu" Kakashi said.

"We will see" Naruto rushed ahead once again.

"You don't learn Naruto. Alright I will end this in one shot" Kakashi shook his head in disappointment and was about to step forward but…to his surprise, his feet were buried in the ground and to make it worse, one of the clone caught him from behind.

"You are not the only one here who knows how to trap someone's feet in the ground" Naruto replied.

"When?" Kakashi asked.

"There was one extra clone which came out of water for this purpose. Now as you said, a shinobi is not supposed to get caught from behind, Right?" Naruto said.

Sakura silently cheered for Naruto "Naruto, you are pretty good"

Even Sasuke smirked "Nice plan"

Naruto rushed forward and placed a good kick on Kakashi's jaw.

Kakashi fell down on ground completely knocked out.

"I guess that's a victory" Naruto smiled a bit.

But to everyone's surprise, Kakashi burst into smoke in an instant.

"Seriously!" Naruto said as he and all the clones sighed in annoyance "I should have expected this"

"That was so uncool Naruto" Sakura said with a crooked face.

"I bet the idiot thought only he could make Shadow clones" Sasuke said to himself as Naruto dispelled all the clones.

"Now I am once again at square one" Naruto rubbed his head and then he noticed something shining near one of the trees. On getting close, he realized it was one of the bells.

"Well, looks like Kakashi sensei was in a hurry" Naruto went to pick up the bell but before he could even touch the bell, his foot got caught in one of the traps.

"Ah" Naruto shouted.

"_Obviously, a trap…what an idiot Naruto is" _Sasuke grumbled "_Even when he's playing with Naruto, he has not a single opening"_

Kakashi then appeared from behind the bush and picked the bell.

"You are not the only one here who knows how to make a shadow clone and also, don't fall for such obvious trap, stupid" Kakashi said.

"What the hell" Naruto said still hanging upside down.

"A shinobi must be able to see what's underneath the underneath" Kakashi said.

"I know that" Naruto shouted.

"Uhm…I am telling you this because you don't know" Kakashi smiled.

"_He's distracted. Now's my chance, he finally showed an opening" _Sasuke said as he threw a barrage of kunai knives and shuriken towards Kakashi who was hit straight to his face and neck"

"Aaah! Sasuke-kun took it too far" Sakura said from her hiding place.

But to their surprise, it turned out to be a piece of log.

"_That's Substitution no Jutsu. Damn! Now he knows where I am. He showed an opening on purpose and I fell for his trap" _Sasuke said to himself before fleeing the spot.

"So that's where he is" Kakashi said to himself as he peeped from his hiding spot and he too disappeared.

"_Oh no_" Sakura literally screamed in her mind "_Kakashi sensei found out Sasuke's hiding spot. I have to help him_" Sakura too ran away to find Sasuke.

Naruto was still hanging from the tree. He waited a moment and then with a depressed sigh, made a hand seal as he disappeared with a small puff of smoke.

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The real Naruto, who hadn't moved an inch from his hiding spot since the beginning of test, shook his head in annoyance. He was playing along as an immature kid from the beginning. He was sure that a few minutes, and he would have analyzed every move and tricks of Kakashi. But Sasuke had to butt in, not that he can blame, as he too would have done the same. But the Uchiha chose the wrong moment and now Kakashi was hot on his trial.

"Looks like I have to show up for real this time" Naruto said as he snapped his knuckles "Now if my assumption is correct, Kakashi will first go for Sakura and then Sasuke"

Naruto again made some clones and whispered the instructions and dismissed them.

"Now let's prepare some welcome for the Kakashi sensei" Naruto too disappeared from his spot a few moments later.

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Sakura was jumping tree to tree looking for Sasuke, before Kakashi finds him.

"Where could Sasuke-kun go to?" Sakura talked to herself "If I didn't find Sasuke-kun in time, he might be in trouble.

Sakura was heavily sweating due to her hunger as well as fear of Sasuke's safety.

"_Could it be that Kakashi sensei had already…_" Sakura shook her head violently to get rid of the thought "No, Sasuke-kun is strong. He wouldn't be caught this easily"

Suddenly Sakura felt a chakra signature nearby and she immediately came to a halt.

"That's Kakashi sensei, if he is here that means he still didn't find Sasuke" Sakura breathed in relief "Now I have to escape before he notices me"

"Hey Sakura, behind you" someone called

Sakura turned behind to see Kakashi sitting just behind her and waving.

Sakura immediately went unconscious due to shock.

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Naruto placed a finger on ground and let out a little chakra.

"No chakra signal within the range of 100 meters. So this place should be fine to set up a trap" Naruto concluded as he started wrapping explosive tags around kunai knives.

A little rustle behind him alerted Naruto as he immediately threw a shuriken at the bush. Seconds later, a larger than usual serpent appeared out of the bush and began to crawl towards Naruto

"Seriously" Naruto gritted his teeth "From all the creatures in this forest, why did it have to be a snake?" Naruto said as he took out a kunai knife from his ninja pocket.

Seconds later, the snake was brutally sliced open, and torn into pieces as Naruto let out all his pent up frustration on the poor reptile.

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Sakura opened her eyes and found herself lying flat on the ground. She looked around to find someone but to her surprise she was all alone.

"Huh! What was that? What's going on? Where is sensei? Why was I sleeping?" Sakura began to helplessly look around.

"Sakura" came a voice from behind one of the trees.

Sakura recognized the voice. Hell, she can recognize the voice even if she is drunk.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheerfully turned to see her crush Sasuke. But…

"Sakura…" came a pitiful and tired voice as Sasuke appeared all bloody and impaled with several kunai and shuriken all over his body "Please help me"

Sakura took a look at Sasuke's bloodied body. Sasuke was heavily panting and blood was flowing like water from his body. One of his eyes was scarred and just his face had 5-6 kunai and shuriken.

Sakura began to turn paler by every second and her face began heavily sweating. Tears began to flow from her eyes as she watched her precious Sasuke-kun die.

"AHHH!" the loud scream of Sakura could be heard throughout the jungle.

The real Kakashi who was sitting over a tree nearby reading his book sighed.

"I think that was a bit too much" Kakashi said while turning a page in his book.

Naruto finished his series of traps as he heard the scream "That…was a bit early than I expected" Naruto took a look at his work "Now let's see how that Teme holds up against Kakashi sensei"

Naruto disappeared a moment later.

Sasuke too was able to hear the voice and that immediately got his attention.

"That scream" Sasuke muttered "_That means Sakura…_"

"Shinobi Fighting Lesson #2 Genjutsu" Kakashi said as he was leaning to a tree and still focused on his book "Sakura easily fell for it"

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Naruto was crouching next to a passed out Sakura who had tears freely falling from her face and what appears to be foam on her mouth "_Genjutsu, a form of hypnotism. From what Sakura blurted out in introduction, I have a pretty good idea on what the hypnosis was about. Damn you Kakashi sensei, you actually scared the s*** of the poor girl" _Naruto took a look at Sakura before talking to himself "I guess I will let her recover from the shock by herself" Naruto said before disappearing once again.

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"Sakura may have easily fallen for your hypnosis and you might have toyed much with Naruto, but I am not the same as them" Sasuke said to Kakashi who was behind him this whole time.

"Say that after you get a bell Sasuke-kun" Kakashi mocked as he closed his book.

Naruto who had managed to find a good view from above the tree smirked slightly with some fruits he found while setting the traps "Heh, this is going to be fun"

-XXX-

**To be continued in next chapter: Bell test: Conclusion**

**This brings an end to tenth chapter of my story. I hope you like it.**

**Now with ideas in mind and my PC fixed, I will try to make quick updates (**_key word is __**try**_**).**

**I got a PM from one of the reviewer who was asking if I am going to completely stick to the original story. I replied to that reviewer soon as soon as possible. But that gave me a thought that most of the readers might also raise this question in the future so I better reply this in the author's notes.**

**I am going to stick to some major arcs and one anime exclusive arc in the original story till the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Once the story gets to Naruto Shippuden, it will take a major turn from the original plot. I am also planning to put 3-4 one-shot filler arcs between the updates, one of which you are going to see soon enough.**

**So, I will try to be back soon with more chapters.**

**Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. It's raining outside so I have to run outside and park my bike in the garage or it will be all wet and the new paint will be all messed up. See ya!**

**And…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! Once again I have been late in updating the story. So I just made a longer chapter as an apology. This chapter took a lot of my time, but it was worth it. Anyways, this chapter will mark the end of Bell Test arc. Now either I will go straight to the next arc or I will put an extra chapter next.**

**Now as some people suggested in their reviews, I have got a beta for the story. Now I suppose, my chapters will be grammatically correct too :)  
**

**Now moving to the acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**bluechakra96**

**Zeikwalt**

**R.I.P. MICHAEL JACKSON**

**roosta6**

**BustNjust9**

**elliepuck**

**AUselessMicrofluff**

**XxXFullmoonXWinterXNightXxX**

**Calvin580**

**skg1991**

**andreaa04**

**december27**

**Sincerely-I Don't Care**

**11Phantom11**

** christinasilva5203**

**mr1980rivera**

** mashirochi1**

**TheRikudoSennin23**

**shadowwolf88**

**Lovelyladie15 for following and favorite the story.**

**And special thanks to:**

**NinjaFang1331**

**buterflypuss**

**skg1991**

**Toshirix**

**and the 2 guests for their awesome reviews.**

**And biggest thanks to my beta foxhikari for her contribution in the chapter.**

**Now without any further adieu, here is the eleventh chapter of the story. Enjoy!**

* * *

**_Chapter 11: The Bell Test: Conclusion_**

Just as Sasuke turned to battle Kakashi, he noticed Kakashi standing still, lazily reading his book.

"It's been quite easy for you, hasn't it?" Sasuke said.

"It was child's play for me, not even a proper warm up" Kakashi said with his bored face.

Naruto was sitting in the tree, anxiously waiting for the fight to start _'Sasuke will go full on against Kakashi sensei if he has to take the bell. And even Kakashi sensei will have to level up against that Teme. I have to make sure to keep an eye on them.'_

"The most powerful clan of the village, The Uchiha Clan" Kakashi said "This could be interesting"

Sasuke and Kakashi had a stare down for a moment before Sasuke started the fight.

Sasuke immediately pulled out some shuriken and threw them towards Kakashi who dodged them by jumping to side while also putting his book in his pocket. Sasuke followed with another handful of shuriken which was also dodged by Kakashi.

"Such obvious attacks are useless" Kakashi remarked but was surprised when he saw a small smirk on Sasuke's face.

Turning back, he saw one of the shuriken cutting the string near the bush.

_'A trap!'_ Kakashi realized as he saw several knives flying towards him.

Kakashi jumped immediately and avoided the barrage of knives that followed him.

But just as Kakashi managed to jump into a safe direction, he felt a presence behind him. He spun around to see Sasuke prepared with his roundhouse kick.

Though it took some difficulty, but Kakashi managed to stop the kick with his two hands.

_'Well, that was some power packed kick.'_ Naruto thought as he saw Kakashi taking a few steps back.

Sasuke wasn't finished yet. Using his hand as leverage, he jerked upwards and prepared to punch Kakashi on the face, but Kakashi was prepared and caught the punch while still holding the leg by one hand, yet the Genin had more moves in his arsenal. Sasuke used his other leg to try kicking Kakashi one more time but Kakashi still managed to catch the other leg as Sasuke was left hanging upside down.

However that was all part of Sasuke's plan as he immediately tried to scoop one of the bells which were hanging to Kakashi's waist.

"Damn" Kakashi said as he realized Sasuke's move and proceeded to step back just as Sasuke's fingers managed to touch the bell.

_'Ah, that was really close, Teme sure has some moves. Looks like it's me who needs some training in physical combat'_ Naruto mentally clapped.

_'What a guy… I didn't have time to read in my Come Come Paradise'_ Kakashi thought as he saw Sasuke panting lightly.

"Well, I have to acknowledge that you are different from the other two. You did well. Thanks to you I had some much needed warm-up" Kakashi said.

"Looks like Kakashi sensei is going to get serious now. Good job Teme" Naruto said while popping some berries in his mouth.

"Bah, you haven't seen anything" Sasuke said as he made several hand signs before shouting "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu"

"What!" Naruto and Kakashi both exclaimed though Naruto was lucky that Kakashi didn't heard him.

"A Genin shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to perform that Jutsu" Kakashi said in surprise.

"He is going to blow things up. I have to move" Naruto immediately jumped out of harm's way.

A huge torrent of flames erupted from Sasuke's mouth that engulfed and burnt everything in its path.

"There goes my snacks" Naruto said as he watched the tree where he was sitting burn into ashes.

As Sasuke finished blowing flames, he noticed Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone!" Sasuke panicked looking around "In the air? No, on the side? Where could he be?"

"Below you"

Before Sasuke could even move, a hand emerged out of the ground and caught Sasuke's foot.

_'What'_ Sasuke was taken by surprise.

"Earth Style: Inner Decapitation"

Sasuke cried out as he was pulled down until only his head remained out of the ground.

Kakashi dusted his clothes before bending down towards Sasuke.

"Shinobi Fighting Lesson #3 Ninjutsu" Kakashi said while smirking "Well, you are already way further with this than the others"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"But hey, they say an exposed nail should be hammered in. Ha…Ha…" Kakashi laughed.

"Damn you" Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"Now it's time for the final fight. You can come down now…Naruto" Kakashi said.

Naruto sighed as he jumped down in front of Kakashi.

"You knew?" Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"I was aware from the very start when you sent your clones instead of showing up yourself" Kakashi eye-smiled.

Naruto scratched behind his head "Tch, and here I thought I was sneaky"

"You are a hundred years too young to trick me like that" Kakashi said "So your clones managed to surprise me once, Sakura was no problem, Sasuke managed to put up a better fight than I expected. So where do the real you stand actually?"

"Well, all I can tell you is that you are in for a surprise" Naruto said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Nothing you do will surprise me. I have read your files Naruto" Kakashi said as Sasuke looked in surprise at Naruto when he heard that Naruto was just playing before.

"Is that so? In that case…you will be even more surprised" Naruto said as he took out his shuriken to start the battle.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura who was unconscious due to the shock finally opened her eyes.

"Huh" Sakura rubbed her head "What am I doing here?"

Moments later, Sakura remembered everything.

"Oh yeah, Sasuke-kun was near death… and he asked me for help" Sakura immediately stood up

"Sasuke-kun! Don't die and leave me behind. Where are you?" Sakura yelled running around.

* * *

"Ino, are you even listening to me?" Asuma sighed.

"I can't believe it. I am so happy" Ino was just dancing around "I am a Genin after all. I am a Genin! I just hope Sakura fails her test. Then Sasuke-kun will be all mine"

"What a drag" Shikamaru was just making his lazy face "Now my mother will be like… happy like some crazy woman and will give me some big boring lecture. I hate being a Genin"

Choji was wildly munching his chips (which was his normal reaction)

"Ok everyone, we will begin our mission as Team 10" Asuma said lighting his cigarette "Go and have some rest. I have to submit the report to Hokage-sama"

"Hey Shikamaru" Choji said "My dad said that he will take me to a treat to Yakiniku if I pass this test. Will you come?"

"Nah" Shikamaru shrugged the offer "I have a Shogi match with my dad. I have yet to defeat my old man"

"Of course, your dad would be very proud of you" Asuma said patting Shikamaru on his back as he left.

"So out of 9, 3 spots are already filled? Who do you think will qualify for remaining 6?" Choji asked.

"Of course, it would be Sasuke-kun" Ino said with a lovesick expression "He is the strongest, coolest and best of us"

"Yeah whatever" Shikamaru said "Though Ino is right, I am also rooting for Shino, Kiba… and Naruto.

"Naruto!" Ino said narrowing her eyes "Sure he has done quite well for last 2 weeks, but still, I doubt it"

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi were having a stare down between them.

"Come on, I don't have all day" Kakashi said just as Naruto rushed ahead and tried delivering a high knee to him which was blocked by Kakashi and was tossed to behind where he straightened after a back flip and threw several shuriken at Kakashi.

"That trick doesn't work on me" Kakashi realized a moment too late as shuriken came flying to him and turned into Naruto clones.

Kakashi jumped sideways to avoid the incoming attack but immediately the clones too threw the shuriken.

Kakashi was forced to defend himself by hiding behind a tree.

"Told so that you are up for a surprise" Naruto said.

Kakashi came out from behind the tree "Not bad, but you have to do better if you want to take the bell from me"

"Sure. I was just about to step up anyway" Naruto said as he crossed his fingers and made a dozen clones and rushed towards Kakashi.

Kakashi had to bend backward to avoid a spinning kick meant for his face. He immediately captured one of the clones who was going for a jab and tossed it to other clones. He then jumped to avoid a leg sweep which was done by another clone. Kakashi immediately jumped in air and threw some shuriken towards the clones. To Kakashi's satisfaction, it took out most of the clones. But Kakashi immediately felt a presence above him, raising his head above, he saw Naruto trying a leg drop while Kakashi is still in air.

"Take this!" Naruto brought his leg down with full force and Kakashi was forced to block the attack with both hands.

But that wasn't the end for Naruto's attack. The clones standing below threw shuriken and knives as Kakashi was busy defending from real Naruto's attack. Kakashi was stuck in between the attacks, but he was a Jounin for a reason.

Just as Kakashi was about to get hit, one of the Naruto clone appeared in his place and became prey to several shuriken and kunai.

Before anyone can understand, all the clones were immediately wiped out by Kakashi.

Naruto landed on the ground a few feet away from Kakashi.

"Substitution Jutsu, isn't it?" Naruto said as Kakashi smiled "You substituted yourself with one of my clones and then managed to wipe out all my clones"

"That's right" Kakashi said "Now it's time we switch the roles, it's my turn to get on offensive"

Kakashi immediately made 2 clones and rushed towards Naruto. Before Naruto could even make any clone, Kakashi was on his face delivering punches and kicks.

One of the clones appeared behind Naruto and made hand seals "Earth Style: Rolling Boulder"

"Damn" Naruto cursed before he jumped sideways to avoid the attack but another clone of Kakashi was already prepared "Fire Style: Fire Stream"

Naruto was once again lucky to jump out of harm's way.

Naruto went through fast hand seals before shouting "Earth Style: Earth Dragon"

Kakashi was once again surprised _'This is a Jounin class Jutsu, for him to perform it...he is good'_

The Earth Dragon was able to wipe both the clones but as Kakashi expected, Naruto panted for a while.

Sasuke was surprised as well as angry to see Naruto holding himself against Kakashi.

Naruto immediately went through another set of hand seals "Water Style: Stream Wave"

Immediately a large flood of water appeared from his mouth and went towards Kakashi.

Kakashi jumped away before saying "You should watch your attacks.

Naruto once again looked at front as he saw his attack going towards Sasuke.

"Crap" Naruto said with gritted teeth. He had to do something or Sasuke will be in deep trouble.

Without even thinking, he immediately blurted out "Wood Style: Great Bear Shield"

A large wooden bear shaped shield emerged in front of Sasuke which successfully stopped the attack.

Kakashi and Sasuke looked with wide eyes as Naruto too realized that he let out a big secret.

Before Naruto could even form a good reply, Kakashi jumped out from the tree to another tree and fled the scene.

"Where do you think you are going?" Naruto too jumped on tree and began following him.

* * *

"Asuma, congratulations your team was the first one to pass the training. Are you sure you weren't too lenient?" Iruka asked as he accepted the report from Asuma.

"Not at all" Asuma said "It was just that they were quick on understanding the objective. So I am the first one to submit the report"

"No, I said you were the first one to give the report of successful candidates" Iruka said "I have already had report for Team 1 and 6. Both teams failed"

"Ah, I see" Asuma said "Well I must be going. I have yet to meet their fathers. They said they wanted a word with me"

"Ok. Once again congratulations on the success of your team" Iruka said.

Asuma nodded and left the office.

"I wonder how Naruto is doing. I must discuss with Hokage-sama about Naruto's sensei" Iruka decided that he will invite Hokage to the lunch.

The sounds of metal clashing with each other could be heard in the training field as Naruto and Kakashi were at a stalemate with their kunai pushing each other.

"Come on Naruto. You have to try harder" Kakashi was having upper hand.

Naruto immediately jumped back and made Shadow Clones to gain an upper hand.

But Kakashi was fast. In less than a minute, he dispersed all clones again.

"You have high class Jutsu in your arsenal but you have yet to master them if you want to have any advantage against someone like me" Kakashi said as he threw some shuriken towards Naruto.

"I know" Naruto deflected every shuriken with his knife "But I can manage"

"As you wish" Kakashi said as he immediately made hand seals.

"Now" Naruto yelled. Kakashi immediately turned back to see an Earth Dragon coming his way.

Kakashi barely dodged the attack but then Naruto was already prepared with several kunai coming his way. Once again Kakashi was lucky as he managed to avoid most of them but one of the knives managed to cut the string of the bell hanging on his waist.

Naruto who saw it immediately rushed towards it and made a dive at last moment to get the bell. But when his fingers were an inch from touching the bell, his shoulder met Kakashi's knee in a hard collision.

Naruto hissed in pain as he felt his shoulder getting broken with the strike. Kakashi was once again able to save the bell from losing it.

Naruto's clones then took the charge, each throwing several attacks as Naruto backed off to treat his injury.

Finally Kakashi was once again able to get rid of clones.

"So are you done Naruto?" Kakashi said while delivering a punch to already injured Naruto who went flying.

Instead of cursing or accepting his defeat, Naruto merely smirked.

"You fell for it sensei" Naruto said while wiping blood from his mouth.

"What" Kakashi looked down to see that he had triggered a trap and soon loud explosions rocked the training fields.

"This should be it" Naruto said as he bent down sweating. The fight actually took a toll on him.

"Impressive" Naruto immediately turned back to see Kakashi standing there with just a few scratches "But still not enough"

"Damn" Naruto immediately threw some kunai knives towards him but as the knives hit him, he turned into a piece of log.

"Substitution Jutsu" Naruto punched the ground in frustration "Now where could he be?"

"I have to hurry" Naruto immediately made his trademark seal "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu"

He managed to make 5 clones that immediately scattered to find Kakashi.

"I am going to check the field where he and Teme fought" Naruto rushed.

* * *

"Oh Kurenai, fancy meeting you here" Asuma said as he saw his fellow Jonin walking in the Hokage Tower

"Asuma, it was fancy meeting you too" Kurenai greeted "So how did the test went?"

"Bah, don't even ask" Asuma grumbled "It took less than 5 minutes for Shikamaru to figure out the objective for this test. He kept signaling his teammates to attack whenever I am close to them. All of them passed the test. Though on the positive side, I managed to capture Ino"

"Good, is that because she missed her target while trying her Mind Swapping Jutsu?"

"No, that's because she was wearing too much perfume" Asuma laughed and was joined by Kurenai too.

"So how about your team?" Asuma asked once they stopped laughing "Did they made it?"

"Yes, I was testing their power and cooperation and looks like they have it under control, but I am mostly worried about Hinata"

"Hmm…I know about her, it seems like her clan is a bit harsh on her" Asuma said "But Hyuga clan is well known for their strict and harsh nature"

"Apart from that, now that 6 genins are already finalized, now only 1 team remains" Asuma said "Who do you think is going to make it out of other 8 teams?"

"From what I have heard, Team 1, 2, 5 and 6 already failed. So we have only half the teams remaining" Kurenai said "I think Team 7 could do it"

"Kakashi's team!" Asuma said with a mild surprise "Well, they are going to be in a big trouble once Kakashi gets serious. He is after all, one of the toughest examiners in this village"

* * *

Sasuke was still trapped in the ground deep in thought gritting his teeth as he thought about Naruto getting upper hand against Kakashi before they both took their battle to different place.

"How come he could use First Hokage's trademark Wood Jutsu. He even tried saving me even though it should be other way round. Why… why did the difference is that large between us?"

Just then the antagonist of his thought, Naruto, jumped down from a tree and scanned the area around. Judging from the way he was rubbing his left shoulder, he was hurt and he was even sweating and panting profusely.

Just then their eyes locked and they kept glaring at each other for a minute.

"Oi, what's with that face?" Naruto pointed a finger at him as he gritted his teeth "I just saved your pretty face a short while ago"

Sasuke too gritted his teeth and felt an urge to choke the blonde who was standing in front of him and glaring at him for over a minute.

"Should I clap or what? And besides, you were the one who was about to kill me" Sasuke said glaring even more furiously "I am trapped here for last 15 minutes and you just jump out of nowhere to boast your achievement"

Naruto went ahead and crouched to get at Sasuke's face level "You know, a simple thank you or your simple 'Hn' would have sufficed. But of course, you are just a Teme"

"Shut up Dobe"

Naruto sighed as he stood up and decided to look for Kakashi at any other location "Here I was planning to free you from this hole, but now I have changed my mind. Be on your own Teme"

Sasuke yelled "At least leave your clone to help me"

"Sorry Teme, all my clones are already busy" Naruto said "and I too have more important things to do"

Just then a small movement in the bushes and Sakura came staggering there.

But the moment she saw Sasuke, she began trembling and sweating once again.

"Ahhhhhh…" Sakura yelled at top of her voice "NARUTO SEVERED SASUKE-KUN'S HEAD!"

"Eh?" Naruto sweat-dropped while Sasuke too had narrowed his eyes in confusion

Before Naruto could fully grasp whatever Sakura is blurting out, the female member of their team punched Naruto straight to the jaw knocking the blonde ninja to the ground and getting knocked out a second later due to shock.

"Wh…what?" Now it was Sasuke who sweat-dropped on seeing Sakura's actions as now Naruto was now on his feet staggering like a drunkard.

"I am now seriously considering doing some heavy Genjutsu on her now" Naruto said holding the side of his face as he regained his footing.

"Did she seriously think that I was beheaded?" Sasuke looked surprised, a rare expression for the young prodigy.

Naruto thought of something before he marched towards Sasuke and began helping him out of the ground.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked surprised again.

"What do you think? I don't want that crazy girl getting mad again because she thinks I killed her precious Sasuke-kun" Naruto said as he began digging out some earth with his kunai knife.

"You idiot! Why don't you use your Jutsu?" Sasuke said.

"I don't have much chakra left and I am saving it for Kakashi sensei" Naruto said in a tired tone.

Sasuke smirked a little "So Sakura's punch knocked some sense into you after all"

"Shut up Teme"

* * *

Sakura stirred as some water is sprayed on her face.

"Hey, wake up"

"Huh…that's…Sasuke-kun's voice" Sakura thought as she opened her eyes and indeed saw Sasuke crouched near her.

"Sasuke-kun" Sakura flung her arms around Sasuke's chest "You're alright"

"Go away" Sasuke said in an annoyed voice "Don't hug me"

"Ah, there they go again" Naruto said still rubbing his jaw "The Lovebirds"

Finally Sasuke was able to get Sakura off from himself.

"There's not much time left until lunch" Naruto said in a serious tone "I have to find him before that"

"In this condition?" Sakura questioned "Sorry to be direct, but you don't look any better. You should just give up"

Naruto turned and gave a sharp look to Sakura enough to silence her.

"I don't know about you two, but I have a goal to achieve. If I fail here, I won't be able to face myself. I made a promise to myself and I don't break promises" Naruto gave a final look before jumping and disappearing among the several trees in the training field.

"I am also going" Sasuke said

"Sasuke-kun, you are still going after a bell" Sakura said with a surprise.

"I already touched it" Sasuke said in a serious tone "Next time, I will get one"

"What?" Sakura was shocked but composed herself immediately

"Ah, I see…you are incredible Sasuke-kun" Sakura smiled but she was freaking out from inside _"This is bad. There's no way I can get a bell…At this rate, I will be separated from Sasuke-kun"_

Just when Sasuke was preparing to leave, Sakura stopped him.

"You know, there isn't much time left so there's no need to push ourselves that hard. There's always next time. Let that Naruto run around aimlessly" Sakura said smiling not realizing that her every word was further angering Sasuke.

Sasuke just around and glared at Sakura in response, which was enough for Sakura to realize that she is not helping herself.

Naruto kept scanning all over the training ground to find Kakashi. His shoulder where Kakashi hit him was painful. He suspected he had a really bad sprain or even worse, a torn muscle.

"Damn it" Naruto cursed when he didn't find him and his clones were also slowly getting burst due to his exhaustion. The words Kakashi said him a while ago were still ringing in his ears.

_**FLASHBACK:**_

_Kakashi finally came to a halt into an open ground more suitable for battles. Shortly Naruto too jumped there in front of Kakashi._

_"I thought maybe you would be just surprised that I used Wood Jutsu which belonged to the First Hokage, but I never thought you would flee the scene" Naruto said maintaining a stern expression._

_"This Jutsu, where did you learned it?" Kakashi was also serious._

_Naruto sighed before answering "I was looking for some books in library when I found a certain book about rare Jutsu and learned some Jutsu from it"_

_Kakashi took a deep breath before answering_

_"There is a reason why I dragged you alone here. I want to talk" Kakashi said._

_Naruto didn't understood yet he gave a small nod._

_"Look, from the information you told us, some people including me, had a pretty good idea about who your kidnapper is" Kakashi said._

_Naruto flinched before he balled his fists._

_"And considering that he experimented on you, it wasn't surprising that you have a vast arsenal of Jutsu with you" Kakashi paused to look at Naruto who was still fuming in anger "But remember this, the no. of Jutsu in arsenal didn't matter as much as the skill of shinobi who is using them. This is what 3rd Hokage had told us"_

_"Why are you telling me this?" Naruto asked enraged. A simple memory of his kidnapper left him boiling in anger._

_"Because no matter how much Jutsu you can perform, you still lag behind against Sasuke when it comes to fighting." Kakashi said._

_"So you are telling me that Sasuke, who didn't even lasted 5 minutes against you, is better than me who is fighting on an equal footing with you?" Naruto growled._

_"You wouldn't have lasted 3 minutes if I was serious and went all out against you" Kakashi remarked "The only reason I was holding back was because I wanted to see the extent of your powers and you didn't disappoint me"_

_Naruto still kept glaring._

_"Even though both you and Sasuke have almost similar goals, there is a huge difference between you two" Kakashi said "Sasuke fights to defeat, while you fight to destroy"_

_"I don't care about others" Naruto gritted his teeth "My fight is with myself and my goal doesn't have space for any third person. Even if that Teme is stronger, I will surpass him. All I need is power to kill that man, nothing more, nothing less._

_Kakashi sighed before lifting his forehead protector slightly to show his left eye to Naruto._

_Naruto was shocked when he saw the hidden eye of his sensei "Is that…"_

_"Yes, it's Sharingan" Kakashi said._

_"Then are you…"Naruto's question was once again answered before he could complete it._

_"No, I am not an Uchiha. How I got this eye is a different story" Kakashi covered his eye once again._

_"Why are you showing this to me?" Naruto was completely confused by now._

_"This eye is a constant reminder to me of things I have lost. What I mean to say is that maybe a day will come when you have to make a choice between your friends and goal. At that moment, don't make a wrong choice. Don't let the sight of your goal consume you completely or you are going to end up hurting everyone close to you" Kakashi said as he took out a kunai knife._

_Naruto was completely speechless. It was like this man was reading him like a book._

_"Now then, I think you have a test to pass. So shall we resume?" Kakashi took his position._

_Naruto simply rushed to attack in response._

_**END OF FLASHBACK:**_

"Did he thought I am some monster who is bent on killing everyone just like the one inside me?" Naruto said to himself "Why am I thinking about that? First things first, I have to find Kakashi sensei and get a bell"

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura was still confused about Sasuke's behavior.

After a long silence, Sasuke finally opened his mouth "There is a man that only I can kill"

Sakura looked at Sasuke with surprise "Ah…what do you mean?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura with angry expression "I am an avenger. I have to become stronger than him. So I can't just stay here and do nothing while Naruto chases his goal with all his might"

Just before Sasuke was preparing to leave, he turned around one last time and said "You possibly can't understand this since everything about you begins and ends with infatuation. As much as I hate it, there is actually one similarity between me and Naruto, we both have a certain men in our life we despise from our heart. You are different"

Sakura remembered yesterday's event when Sasuke mentioned his dream was to kill a certain man. She suddenly felt the huge distance between Sasuke and herself.

Just as Sasuke prepared to leave, the sound of alarm bell began to ring indicating the end of time.

"Damn" Sasuke muttered "I wasted too much time"

* * *

Naruto too gritted his teeth as the sound of alarm reached his ears.

"Crap" Naruto punched the tree in frustration causing a small dent "I should have made more clones"

Naruto then felt his head getting heavy as exhaustion hit him. All the remaining 3 clones immediately dispersed and Naruto was stumbling now.

"Stupid body" Naruto silently muttered as he fell on his knees and soon face first as unconsciousness took him.

"Hmm" Kakashi then appeared where Naruto was lying as he picked up the blonde ninja.

"He tried too hard for his body" Kakashi said as he took him to the open ground where the test began.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura reached the meeting place and were surprised to see Kakashi standing beside one of the stumps reading his book and Naruto tied to another stump.

"Oh so you are finally here" Kakashi said closing his book "Please have a seat.

Sasuke and Sakura sat down near the stump to which Naruto was tied.

"Why am I the only one who is tied to the stump?" Naruto questioned.

"That's because you broke the rule about having lunch and tried to eat fruits while your teammates were fighting empty stomach" Kakashi said.

"What! " Naruto was surprised "You never told me anything about eating fruits. You only told us not to eat the lunch and I only managed to eat a handful of fruits and I was also the one who did most of the fighting"

"That's no excuse" Kakashi said as he turned towards Sasuke and Sakura who had a desperate look on their face

"You guys look really hungry" Kakashi said folding his arms "Oh and by the way, about your test, well there is no need for you guys to go back to the academy"

This got the attention of all three of them.

"Seriously?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? All I did was pass out…was that enough?" Sakura said to herself while her inner Sakura was screaming with happiness _"Love wins! Hell yeah!"_

Sasuke just smirked while his face was down and muttered a small "Bah"

Sakura already started celebrating running around while Naruto and Sasuke were more normal

"Then, all three of us…" Sakura said in ecstasy.

Kakashi smiled before replying "Yup, all three of you should quit as shinobi"

Sakura's jaw went slack as she heard this.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi as he heard the reply.

Naruto sighed as he muttered to himself "I should have known"

* * *

"Ah, the food is delicious" Sarutobi said as he was eating the lunch "So Iruka, what things you wanted to ask that you had invited me to lunch?"

"Actually it's about the Jounin for Naruto's Team #7" Iruka replied while also eating the food "What kind of sensei is he? Is he strict?"

"About Kakashi!" Sarutobi understood that Iruka was worried about Naruto "You look worried. Here, this is the list of his past students and their records"

Iruka took the little notebook and as he glanced at the figures his eyes widened at the scores.

"This…this is…" Iruka was sweating now "No way"

"Kakashi's test might be a little too difficult since children are obedient" Sarutobi said as he lit his cigar.

"Yeah but…this is all zeros" Iruka said with a shocked look.

"Yup, Kakashi has never passed anyone. They all failed" Sarutobi said as he blew out some smoke "I sincerely hope I don't find 3 more names in this list"

* * *

"Quit as ninjas" Naruto glared "What does that mean?"

"Ok, we couldn't get the bells" Sakura was yelling now "But why do we have to quit?"

"Because all of you are just punks who don't deserve to be ninjas" Kakashi said

This statement angered Naruto and Sakura deeply but Sasuke was the one most affected as he immediately rushed towards Kakashi at full speed.

"No wait Sasuke" Sakura shouted but it was too late.

Just when Sasuke was about to strike, Kakashi shifted and tossed Sasuke to the ground sitting over the Uchiha prodigy with one of his hand pulling Sasuke's arm in a lock and one of his feet keeping the raven haired ninja's face on the ground.

"That's why you are a punk" Kakashi said as Naruto shook his head in disappointment.

_"What was that Teme actually thinking?"_ Naruto thought.

"NO!" Sakura screamed with fury in her tone "Don't step on Sasuke-kun"

The said ninja was seething with anger as his face wiped against the dirt on the ground.

"Are you guys underestimating ninjas?" Kakashi looked like a dangerous murderer all of a sudden "Why do you think that you were divided into teams and are doing this training?"

"Huh, what does that mean?" Sakura asked with a confused face while Naruto searched his memory for a perfect answer.

"Basically you guys do not understand the answer to this test" Kakashi said as he further pressed Sasuke's face into the ground.

"There is an answer" Naruto looked surprised for a moment

"Yes, the answer that helps you pass the test" Kakashi said.

"So…when are you going to tell us?" Sakura said in an impatient tone

"Geez…" Kakashi looked down in disappointment

"Come on, what's the answer already?" Sakura said now narrowing her eyes.

"It's TEAMWORK" Kakashi said finally looking up

All 3 pair of eyes widened suddenly

"The 3 of you working together may have gotten the bells" Kakashi said pointing towards the bells.

_"Hey, wait a second, there are only 2 bells"_ Naruto thought _"3 contestants…2 bells"_ Naruto repeated everything in his head as it finally clicked "Ah…crap" Naruto bashed his behind on the stump

"What do you mean by teamwork? There are only two bells" Sakura said "Even if we work together and get the bells, one of us would still fail. What teamwork? That just makes us fight each other"

Kakashi looked at the others and seeing the defeated expression on Naruto's face he understood that Naruto finally realized the meaning of the test.

"This test was purposely set up to make us fight among ourselves" Naruto said looking at other side

"Huh" Sakura looked at Naruto.

"Of course; the purpose is to see whether you can forget about your own interest and successfully work together under these designed circumstances" Kakashi said looking at everyone particular "Yet you guys…"

"Sakura, instead of Naruto who was right next to you, you were only thinking about Sasuke who was far away"

Sakura had a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Naruto, you were just running around by yourself and kept watching even though you were supposed to help your teammates"

"It just seemed good idea at that time" Naruto muttered to himself.

"Sasuke, you just assumed the others would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself"

Sasuke just gritted his teeth as Kakashi further pressed his face in the ground.

"The duties are done by the team. Of course superior individual ability is important to a ninja but what's even more important is Teamwork" Kakashi summarized.

"Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger and even get you killed" Kakashi took out a knife from his ninja tool kit "For example"

"Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies"

Sakura was immediately alarmed as Kakashi put the knife at Sasuke's neck.

"Don't even think about it" Naruto yelled as he saw Sakura slipping her hand in her ninja tool kit.

"Did you see? If a hostage is taken, you will have tough choices and then die. You will be risking your lives in these duties" Kakashi said as he finally stood up from Sasuke's body and went to a nearby tombstone.

"Look at this. The numerous names carved on this stone are ninjas who are recognized as heroes of the village. But they aren't just normal heroes. They are all heroes who died while on duty"

A solemn look passed over three of them.

"This is a memorial. My best friend's name is also carved here"

All 3 of them looked at the stone for some time.

"You guys I will give you one more chance. But after lunch, I will make it even tougher to get the bells" Kakashi said turning towards them "Those who still wish to challenge can eat lunch. But don't give any to Naruto"

"Tch" Naruto turned his face away.

"It's punishment for trying to eat while your teammates are fighting with empty stomach" Kakashi said walking away "If anyone gives him any food, they will fail immediately. I am the rules here. Got it?"

Kakashi went away with those lines.

Sasuke and Sakura opened their boxes and sat down to eat the lunch.

Halfway to the lunch, Sasuke peeked a glance at Naruto who was close to being exhausted without food and water.

He took a deep breath before picking up his box and shoving it in front of Naruto "Here…eat this"

Naruto looked surprised at the gesture.

Sakura who was wildly stuffing the lunch in her mouth looked at Sasuke in astonishment "But Sasuke-kun, sensei just said…"

"Don't worry. I don't sense him near here. After lunch, we will work together and get the bells" Sasuke said still looking other way "Without food, he will just get weaker and he will be in the way, and that will only hurt us"

"Wow never expected Teme to be such a softy" Naruto muttered to himself but Sasuke still heard him and frowned in return.

Sakura was really hungry but she knew that this could be the opportunity to impress her Sasuke-kun. She too offered her lunchbox to Naruto.

Naruto had a little smile on his face. Though he would never accept this in a thousand years, he was actually moved by their concern. But of course, he was Naruto. He had to play a little hard.

"Thanks for your concern, but do you have any idea about how I can eat when both my hands are tied" Naruto said which resulted in both of them groaning. Of course, offering him food was one thing and spoon feeding was another.

"However if you wish you can actually bring me some water…" Naruto said while laughing inwardly at their faces.

"We are not your servants" Sakura shouted.

Kakashi who was standing behind a tree nearby smiled at the conversation.

"Looks like it's time for the finale"

Naruto sighed in satisfaction as he finally had water going inside his throat.

Sakura and Sasuke although reluctant at first, finally decided to bring him some water in a bottle which belonged to Sakura when they saw Naruto is having problem in even standing.

Suddenly a large smoke blast occurred in front of them taking them all by surprise. And soon Kakashi rushed towards them with all his furious and evil face making Sakura jump, Naruto struggle from his binds and Sasuke prepared to fight "YOU GUYS…"

All 3 of them braced themselves against the upcoming strike.

"Pass"

.

.

.

Eh?

All 3 of them looked again to see that the smoke is all gone and Kakashi was standing with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Don't tell me this is another of his tricks" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Pass?" Sakura was equally surprised "But why?"

"You guys are first" Kakashi said with a proud smile "Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. They were all just morons.

"And we barely avoided that category" Naruto sighed.

"A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash…but you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash" Kakashi said as he stood in front of them.

"Ah finally" Naruto was now convinced that this isn't a trick as he now slumped against the stump.

"That ends the training. All of you pass. Ok, starting tomorrow Team 7 will begin their duties" Kakashi gave them thumbs up.

"Let's go now" Kakashi said as Sasuke and Sakura packed their bags and followed Kakashi.

"Hey, what about me? Someone untie me!" Naruto said.

"Sorry Dobe" Sasuke turned towards him as Kakashi and Sakura had already went far ahead "Kakashi sensei and Sakura can't hear you and I have more important things to do"

"Oh come on. I freed from you from the trap in the end" Naruto said but Sasuke was already gone.

"I knew this would happen" Naruto's eye twitched in anger "Teme, I will get back at you"

* * *

**That brings an end to the eleventh chapter of the story. I hope you like it.**

**Like I mentioned earlier, either you would see Naruto in action with his team against Zabuza and Haku. Or, we would see Team 7 helping Konohamaru in his mission in a one-shot filler chapter.**

**I will make sure to decide whatever I want to continue with soon enough.**

**I would be back soon with a new chapter.**

**Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**P.S. **** If you are a guest reviewer, please mention your name unless you want to keep your identity hidden. I prefer to mention the name of my reviewers in the acknowledgement.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Remember me? I can't believe it's been almost a year since I last updated this chapter. A lot of things happened, but in short, I was busy with my school projects and never had a chance to sit down and write a chapter. So somehow (I still can't believe it), I managed to write an 8k+ chapter for the story.**

**Now since it's a long time, I am still not sure how to contact my beta ****foxhikari****, so there ****might be some grammatical errors, please bear with it.**

**I have been wondering if I should continue to the next cannon arc or, put a small filler arc in between. Finally, I decided to go with a filler arc.**

**Now moving on to acknowledgements, I would like to sincerely thank:**

**glenbob**

**gem1244**

**DetectiveJuice**

**marquis24mccullum**

**ulquioraschiferfan**

**Hidden Wolf 1989**

**alexanderq10**

**Naruto Uchiha X**

**vancecorpereal**

**Monkey D Ann **

**EverRose808**

**DevonnaDanielle**

**Anime-Niakz**

**Asia the Jester**

**storyrat**

**and WinterValentine**

**And special thanks to:**

**FoolishLittleBrother**

**buterflypuss**

**Shurikenyounot**

**and Guest for their awesome reviews**

**Now without any further adieu, here is the first part of the two-shot filler !**

* * *

_**Chapter 12: The Love Mission**_

Knock…Knock…Knock…

"Team 7 reporting sir" Kakashi said as a man opened the door of a small hut.

"Oh, you must be the ninjas I requested for" the man who looked in his late twenties said as he opened the door "Um… are those kids with you?"

The man pointed at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke who were covered with mud, grass, twigs and all sorts of dirt and had a few flies roaming around them. They had already finished 3 missions today all of which included cleaning the dirtiest places in the village. When Naruto tried making **Shadow Clones **for the assistance, Kakashi immediately stopped him saying that all of this is part of their physical training so no Jutsu are permitted to use. They were trying best to look professional but looked nothing more than cruddy kids and each of them were resisting the urge to hide somewhere esp. Sakura, who was sure that she would be a laughing stock for all the Sasuke's fan-girls if they ever saw her in this condition.

"These are my team members" Kakashi said "I am sure you requested our services for babysitting your children, right?"

"Yeah, me and my wife are going to the neighboring village to attend the festival and we can't take our kids due to some circumstances" the man explained but then narrowed his eyes at the 3 genins "But I won't allow some dirty kids to touch my children. In fact, they can't even enter the house like this"

Kakashi scratched his head unable to notice the twinkling eyes of his students "That is a problem"

"You know sensei" Naruto said "Since you are the only one who is neat and clean among us, why don't you start this mission and we will be back in a while?"

Just as the 3 of them were about to slip away, Kakashi appeared behind them putting his arms around Naruto and Sasuke "Ah, I have a better plan. Why don't I take a break while you go and take a shower and report back 30 minutes later?"

All 3 of them groaned in displeasure.

"To make it more interesting, those who failed to return on the time, they won't get any payment for today's missions" Kakashi eye-smiled.

"What!" Sakura said turning towards her sensei "How can you expect us to return in such a short time. I have to even wash my hair and eat my lunch and take a small nap. Why don't you guys…"

Sakura looked sideways to see both her teammates missing and Kakashi smiling under his mask.

* * *

Next day, much to the relief of Team 7, they were assigned only one mission and they had their day off after that.

"So all we have to do is clean the library and storehouse and rearrange the books and we are done" Kakashi instructed his students "The librarian is on a leave today so we are supposed to take care of the building until the librarian arrives.

"And where are you going?" Naruto crossed his arms as Kakashi turned to leave.

"Well… I am hungry. So I am going to grab a nice meal" Kakashi said.

"What the hell!" Sakura stomped her foot in annoyance "You are our sensei. Aren't you supposed to help us?"

"Wrong word dear" Kakashi said with his usual eye-smile "My job is to 'guide' you not 'help' you and I don't suppose you need my guidance in cleaning the library"

Kakashi went away with a small poof of smoke leaving 3 annoyed Genins behind.

"I will clean the storehouse" Naruto said going to the back door leaving Sakura and Sasuke by themselves.

"I will take the first floor then" Sasuke too went away towards the stairs of the library to fetch a broom and dust pan.

"That leaves me with the ground floor" Sakura said already thinking of plans to approach Sasuke since Naruto was smart enough to leave them alone.

* * *

Naruto had some problem opening the door which was already decorated with lots of cracks and was barely hanging from its hinges.

"No wonder they called ninjas for cleaning" Naruto sighed as he saw the storehouse which looked like it hadn't been open for ages and several books and scrolls were lying around and the whole room was covered with a thick layer of dust.

"_I guess I could use a little help since Kakashi sensei isn't around_" Naruto crossed his fingers and made 4 clones for help. But he immediately saw a twinkling eye in the corner and Kakashi came out from the hiding.

"No Jutsu allowed" Kakashi made an X position with his hands.

All the clones disappeared as Naruto's eye twitched "_That bastard even left a clone for spying_"

* * *

An hour later

"Hey Sasuke-kun, don't you think Kakashi sensei is a bit… imposing?" Sakura tried although all her attempts of talking were wasted when Sasuke either nodded or replied with a simple 'Hn' or most of the time, simply ignored her.

Sasuke simply ignored her once again as Sakura hung her face.

"Uh, Sasuke-kun… I need a hand here in the stairs" Sakura tried a last attempt

"In case you didn't noticed, I am already busy here. Instead of whining and annoying me, why don't you go and ask Dobe for help?" Sasuke said in his usual cold tone.

Sakura got a depressed look as the statement stopped her from any advancement.

"Ok, I will just finish up tables first and then I will go and check up on Naruto" Sakura said to herself as she began cleaning once again and planned to go to storeroom to check her blonde teammate. She didn't wanted Sasuke to think that she was actually bluffing.

* * *

"This is important. You have to understand" Konohamaru said to his friend who had a drip of snot hanging from his nose and was busy adjusting his glasses.

"Uh, but what if Iruka sensei noticed?" Udon said as he looked at Iruka sensei who was busy teaching the class.

Konohamaru was unwillingly sitting in the class listening to the lecture whereas his mind was somewhere else.

"Please Udon… it's important." Konohamaru said in a pleading tone.

Udon sighed "Fine but you owe me one Konohamaru"

"Of course. Now please hurry up" Konohamaru said.

Udon nodded and raised his hand "Iruka sensei"

Iruka lifted his face from the book and turned towards Udon "What is it?"

"I have been feeling something funny in my stomach. I think I am going to puke anytime now" Udon said in a hoarse tone clutching his stomach.

"Ah" Iruka quickly made his way to the little boy "I think you are sick. I have to immediately drop you to the nurse for a check-up"

Iruka turned towards the class "I will be back in five minutes. Read the chapter and we will discuss history of Second Hokage when I return"

Iruka left with Udon in his arms who secretly gave a thumbs up to his friend.

"_Good, now I should be getting out"_ Konohamaru said to himself as the students began to throw paper balls at each other once Iruka was out of the building.

* * *

Naruto managed to clean the storehouse and arranged the scrolls and books in small shelves. Some of the books caught his eyes which were related to Fūinjutsu (Sealing Techniques).

"Naruto, are you done?" Sakura entered the room and was not surprised to see the room clean, books and scrolls all in their places and Naruto sitting on a small table with some books around him.

"What about you guys? Are you done cleaning the library?" Naruto asked without lifting his face from the book.

"No, there is still some work" Sakura said "Why didn't you come upwards if you are done here?"

"I don't want to become part of the sulking atmosphere around Sasuke" Naruto said to which Sakura growled but managed to control her anger.

"Anyway, I need some help with cleaning the stairs" Sakura said crossing her arms.

"Ask Teme" Naruto said without removing his eyes from the book "That lazy ass should be finished by now"

Sakura was sure that if Sasuke heard of this, he will strangle their blonde teammate without regret

"Stop acting like a child and come upstairs. There is a still lot of work to do" Sakura said in a strict tone and turned back to leave though she made a note to turn off the power to storeroom in case Naruto decided to ignore her.

* * *

When Sakura returned back, she saw Sasuke sitting at a table nearby stairs as he was finished with his work and surprisingly he also cleaned the stairs. Sakura was feeling really giddy at the moment but decided not to react to avoid annoying her Sasuke-kun.

"So…" said Sasuke who was actually hoping that Naruto will keep Sakura busy for sometime so that he may have some alone time but Sakura was back before he expected though he should have known that, since Sakura preferred to stay away from Naruto.

"Naruto is finished with his work and will be joining us shortly" Sakura said as she also took a chair and sat near Sasuke.

Just on cue, footsteps could be heard and Naruto appeared in the room holding a book and with annoyed expression.

"Who the hell just turned off the lights of the storeroom?" Naruto asked glaring at his teammates.

Sakura raised her hand "I did"

Naruto muttered some profanities before putting the book on table.

"So what do you need help for?" Naruto asked in a voice that clearly displayed his disinterest.

"Uh… actually I was hoping that you would help me clean the stairs but Sasuke-kun already did that when I was downstairs talking to you" Sakura's voice was a mixture of happiness and pride.

Naruto was about to say something but decided against it.

"Alright" Naruto picked the book and turned to go back in storeroom "I am going back downstairs. Call me when the librarian arrives"

"Oi, who do you think you are?" Sakura stood up pointing her finger towards Naruto "You are also supposed to look out in library. If you are so desperate to read that book, you can read it here and assist us in looking out for the library"

Naruto glared at Sakura for a while before giving up "Fine"

With a sigh, he sat down at the same table between Sakura and Sasuke causing the female team member to look at him annoyingly. She was expecting that Naruto will most likely yell some profanities at her and will return to storeroom to read the books he picked out. She was a bit annoyed to see Naruto giving up that easily

"Don't mind me" Naruto said understanding the stare Sakura was giving him "Please continue whatever important things you were discussing"

Naruto covered his face with the book as Sakura stood up and went to sit on the other of Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun" Sakura began in her sweet tone "It's already past lunchtime, so how about we both-"

"Hey Dobe" Sasuke completely ignored Sakura's rant "Where did you get that book?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke from above the book "I found it in storeroom. This is the only copy there."

"Hn" Sasuke nodded "I want this book after you are finished with it"

Sakura frantically tried to regain the attention of her crush "So Sasuke-kun, as I was saying, it's past lunchtime and-"

Sakura was once again interrupted due to a small 'poof' sound and Kakashi was standing there with his ever constant smile.

"Hello there" Kakashi waved at his students "Looks like you have already cleaned the library"

"So is the mission finally complete?" Naruto asked "You always show up at the end after all"

Kakashi smiled before replying "Not today. The librarian will still take some time. So I just came to check you guys"

"Hn" Sasuke replied in his usual voice which was hard to identify if he is alright with this or not.

"What's in the bags?" Sakura pointed at the small bags which Kakashi was holding.

"These are for you" Kakashi placed the bags on the table "I thought you might be exhausted with all the work, so I brought lunch for you"

Sakura immediately opened the bags as she was feeling really hungry at the moment "Sushi!"

"Yup, this is a reward from me for not slacking off. You make me proud" Kakashi said with a smile.

Naruto and Sasuke rolled their eyes while Sakura was busy distributing the Sushi to her team members as well as herself. (_She made sure Naruto gets the least portion while Sasuke gets most._)

"Alright, you guys are faring well as I can see. You can leave after the librarian arrives and collect your payment from Hokage tower" Kakashi said as he waved them goodbye and disappeared with a 'poof' sound.

"These are really good" Sakura said as she quickly devoured half of her share.

"I don't like them much" Naruto slid his plate towards Sakura "Here you can have my share too"

Sakura immediately slid the plate towards herself and transferred Naruto's share in her plate.

"Ne Sasuke" Sakura asked Sasuke who was eating his portion rather slowly "You want some more Sushi"

"No thanks. I am not fond of Sushi either" Sasuke replied.

And once again one of the many plans of Sakura for bonding with Sasuke failed before it could even began.

* * *

"Where could Konohamaru disappear to?" Iruka said as he was looking for Konohamaru for more than an hour "He just loves skipping classes. I hope he didn't get into planning his usual pranks. Now I must look in the woods"

As Iruka jumped from roof to roof, he failed to notice the small kid hiding under a vegetable cart.

"Phew, he's gone" Konohamaru wiped the sweat from his forehead "Now I have to find Boss before it's too late"

Konohamaru kept running around looking for a blonde teenager careful not to be caught by any academy teachers.

* * *

_Left_

_Right_

_Above_

_Below_

_'Ok no one is around_'

Kakashi slowly slips into the censored section of the library making sure his students didn't notice his presence.

Kakashi's eyes glinted as he saw many of his dream books. His ANBU skills really came in handy whenever he wanted to swap some erotic novels without anyone noticing.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw his students waiting for him with their hands crossed.

"I had a feeling you are up to something when you treated us to Sushi" Sasuke said "And I wasn't wrong"

Kakashi nervously smiled rubbing his head.

"No stealing from the library" Sakura said "Return all the books immediately"

Kakashi slumped his shoulder and returned the 4 magazines to Sakura before disappearing.

"Hey Naruto, why are you standing there? Come and help me" Sakura asked Naruto who was standing a bit far away from them.

"No way I am coming near to those smuts" Naruto made a weird face.

"Hn, you are such a moron" Sasuke said "Your Sexy no Jutsu is even more vulgar"

Naruto shrugged "It's actually effective. It's all that matters, isn't it?"

Sakura looked at Naruto with a disgusting look. Sasuke just ignored the reply.

* * *

Konohamaru finally arrived in front of the library.

"Boss should be here" Konohamaru said as he rushed inside the building.

"Boss!" Konohamaru yelled as soon as he entered the building.

Sasuke and Sakura appeared as they heard a kid yelling and entering the building.

"Where is Boss?" Konohamaru asked panting.

"Boss! Who is your boss? Do you mean the librarian?" Sakura asked as she looked at Konohamaru.

Konohamaru shook his head "I mean Naruto-bro. I heard he is here"

As on cue, Naruto appeared with a sandal in his hand "Oi Sakura, I got your culprit"

"AHHH!" Sakura screamed hiding behind Sasuke as Naruto was waving a dead cockroach in his other hand "Keep it away from me"

"For god's sake, you are a ninja. Stop getting afraid of a dead cockroach" Sasuke said as Naruto tossed the cockroach in the trash can in the corner and put his sandal back on his bare foot.

"Dobe, you have a visitor" Sasuke pointed at Konohamaru.

"Hey Boss" Konohamaru said with a wide grin.

"Konohamaru! What are you doing here?" Naruto was a bit surprised as he signaled the kid to sit as he was panting.

"I was looking for you the whole day" Konohamaru said.

"So you skipped the classes?" Naruto said crossing his arms as he too sat in front of Konohamaru.

"It's important" Konohamaru tried to argue.

"Dobe, since when did you started making underlings?" Sasuke said as he too sat down at the table followed by Sakura.

"He is the one who volunteered" Naruto said "I had no choice"

"I don't understand why you would want to make this moron your boss" Sasuke said causing Naruto's eye to twitch "He's a complete dumbass, if you ask me. You should look for someone better"

"Yes. You should look up to someone like Sasuke-kun. He is the best. He is the perfect role model for you" Sakura said with heart in her eyes and latching to Sasuke's arm causing the raven-haired Uchiha to free his arm and giving her a cold shoulder.

"Ignore my teammates. They get weird sometimes" Naruto said rubbing his forehead.

Konohamaru nodded. It was then he remembered.

"Wait a sec" Konohamaru said looking at Sasuke "You must be **him**"

Naruto saw Sasuke looking like he didn't care, but Naruto knew that Sasuke was actually smirking from inside. He seriously felt like kicking Sasuke under the table.

"Yeah, you are the Teme with the duck-butt hair. Boss told me about your love of tomatoes" Konohamaru said laughing.

The bubble of pride floating inside Sasuke's head burst immediately. Naruto controlled his laugh from escaping his mouth. The look on Sasuke's face was priceless. Naruto wanted to give a big hug to his apprentice and shower him all kinds of praises, but he controlled since this would be too weird for him.

"What did you said?" Sakura said gritting her teeth.

"Oh and you must be the annoying fangirl with big forehead" Konohamaru said as Naruto was getting more and more proud. He never thought that Konohamaru will remember the description he told him when Konohamaru asked about his teammates.

"You conceited little ape" Sakura growled as Konohamaru was now actually looking scared "I will bite your head off"

"Wait" Naruto said as Sakura was about to pounce on Konohamaru "Before you do anything reckless, remember the fact that he is the only grandson of Hokage-sama"

Just as Naruto thought, Sakura unwillingly calmed down letting Konohamaru give a smug look to her.

"And you" Naruto turned towards Konohamaru "Before Iruka sensei or anyone else comes here looking for you, better get out of here. I don't intend to take the blame for your class-skipping"

"But Boss, I came here because I need your help" Konohamaru said.

"Help? For what?" Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"Umm… you see I want you to do a top priority secret mission for me" Konohamaru said.

Naruto rolled his eyes as Sasuke snickered "What do you mean by top priority secret mission?"

"Well you see…" Konohamaru said nervously "I… Will you do the mission for me or not?"

"I am a Genin now Konohamaru" Naruto said "I take payments for the missions"

Konohamaru placed his big piggy bank on the table.

"I am completely sure that this piggy bank contains more than 3000 Ryō" Konohamaru said with a smug look "So you will do mission for me right?"

"Depends" Naruto said already tired of arguing with the kid "I mean your top secret mission could be finding where your old man hides the candies and sweets or-"

"No boss no" Konohamaru said banging the table with his fist "I am not some small child. You are taking this really lightly"

"If it's as serious as you proclaim it to be" Naruto said "then why do you think I can do it? You should ask some Chunin or Jonin to help"

"No Boss Not a chance" Konohamaru violently shook his head"This is supposed to be a secret mission. I don't want Grandpa to know about any of this. The best option, as much as I hate it, you can take the help of your teammates"

Naruto sighed and covered his face with his hands whereas Sasuke and Sakura glared at Konohamaru for his attitude.

"Ok, let's hear it" Naruto said, giving up "But I am already warning you that if this is some childish prank or something like that, I am not going to do it"

"I promise it's nothing funny" Konohamaru said "But… you will also have to promise me that you will keep this a secret from Grandpa and Ebisu"

"Ok fine" Naruto said getting a bit serious "So how can Team 7 help you?"

Konohamaru's face was completely red as he began to speak "I… I am…"

"Oh come on. Stop stuttering. We don't have whole day to listen" Sakura said as Konohamaru began to fidget with his fingers.

Konohamaru took a deep breath before answering "I am… in love"

Silence

More silence

And more silence.

"Eh?" came the simultaneous reply of all 3 Genins who had their eyes the size of a saucer plate.

"What…" Naruto composed himself before he asked "What does this have to do with the mission?"

"I want you people to make her fall for me" Konohamaru said as Naruto almost slipped from his chair in surprise.

"_Where did this come from?_" Naruto asked to himself.

"Hn" Sasuke replied with his usual tone "Do we look some kind of love counselors to you?"

"You should focus on your studies and training moron" Naruto said flicking Konohamaru's forehead "You can make a girlfriend when you are a little older"

"But Boss, the problem is that she is leaving the village tomorrow evening" Konohamaru said in a desperate tone "I have to confess my true feeling before that"

"Where did you even get this stuff to fit in your little head?" Naruto asked.

"Boss, are you helping or not?" Konohamaru crossed his arms.

"No" Naruto said "I am not an expert in the matter and if Kakashi sensei or your grandpa find about it, they are going to be disappointed"

"But Boss, if I didn't managed to talk to her, this will always hurt me my entire life" Konohamaru said it with equal determination.

"Konohamaru" Naruto countered "if she is leaving, then does it really matter if you confess your feeling to her or not?"

Konohamaru looked at Naruto with a grumpy face.

"Pft" Sasuke smirked "Seriously Dobe, you shouldn't give any love advice"

Naruto glared at Sasuke before turning back to Konohamaru. He was seriously embarrassed that he is actually thinking about helping Konohamaru.

"And besides, I don't think I can be of much help. You should ask someone expert. Maybe someone close to her or some female since she is a girl" Naruto tried to make a list on fingers.

"Boss-" Konohamaru tried once again.

"Sorry Konohamaru but it's a no from me" Naruto said as he looked at Sasuke who was sitting casually not even paying attention "And I suggest you don't take Sasuke's help either. He will just end up adding another girl in his fan-girls list"

An anime vein popped at Sasuke's forehead as he glared murder at Naruto who just ignored him.

Konohamaru hung his face "So I guess I am not getting any help"

Konohamaru stood up and picked up his piggy bank and went away.

Team 7 just watched Konohamaru leave the building before Sakura broke the silence.

"You know, I actually feel sorry for him. He must be heartbroken" Sakura said as she supported her face over her left hand.

"It's not like we could have done anything either" Naruto said "I could just hope that he don't mull too much over this"

"And of all the people" Sasuke said "He has to come to this Dobe with his love problems. I wonder what he must be teaching to his underling"

"Accept it Sasuke" Naruto said pointing a finger at Sasuke "You are just jealous that I have an underling and all you have are annoying fan-girls"

Sasuke just turned his head away "Hn, who wants some annoying underling anyway?"

"It's really boring here. I need to go home and take a nap. Would you two mind covering for me?" Sakura said standing up.

"Yeah whatever" Naruto said yawning "It's not like Kakashi sensei will come now. We are all that remains. Go take your sweet nap"

"Hn" Sasuke replied shortly. Since he didn't cared to add anything else, Sakura took it as a yes or his I-don't-care tone.

"OK guys, see you tomorrow" Sakura stood up looking at Sasuke expecting some farewell but when he just ignored her, Sakura understood that today is not her lucky day.

Sakura exited the library and skipped towards her home.

"I guess I will buy that expensive perfume which is on sale. Then I will smell like spring flowers and Sasuke will fall for me" Sakura covered her face with her palms to hide her blush.

Just then she noticed Konohamaru sitting on a bench with a gloomy face.

"Hey" Sakura decided to cheer him up a bit "What are you doing here?"

Konohamaru looked at Sakura then turned his face down again "Just thinking if I should take help from Iruka sensei or not?"

Sakura shook her head as she joined him on the bench "Still possessed over that love matter?"

"Of course" Konohamaru said "I just can't give up yet. Even if I am alone, I will do it no matter what"

"If this girl is anything like a normal girl" Sakura said a smile tugging her lips "you will just end up embarrassing both of you"

"Huh?" Konohamaru narrowed his eyes towards Sakura.

"I am a girl so I know what females will expect from a boy" Sakura said proudly "Making a girl fall in love with you is not as simple as it sounds. First you have to know her and understand her. And then you have to present yourself as if you are the perfect guy for her and then…"

Sakura kept going on for minutes. Konohamaru wasn't paying attention to whatever Sakura was saying but focused on Sakura's knowledge. It was then that Konohamaru got the idea.

"Hey, why don't you help me?" Konohamaru said looking happily towards Sakura.

"Me? No way" Sakura crossed her arms as she stood up "I just came to cheer you up. My job is done so I am going home"

Just as Sakura was leaving, she found her path blocked by Konohamaru.

"Oi, get out of my way" Sakura yelled.

Instead of getting out of the way, Konohamaru simply looked at Sakura's face with a serious look before replying "I know you have feelings for Uchiha-san. Isn't it?"

Sakura looked at Konohamaru with incredulous look before nodding with a sigh.

"So how would you feel if your crush decided to date some other girl even before you could manage to tell your feelings to him?" Konohamaru asked.

Sakura was shocked to hear this statement from Konohamaru. As much as Sakura tried to ignore it, the gears in her mind began to turn rapidly as a scene began to play in her mind.

_**Inside Sakura's head**_

_Sakura was standing in an open field that seemed more like one of the training grounds of Konoha._

"_Why am I here?" Sakura wondered as she was looked around and saw that she is the only one here._

"_Sakura"_

_Sakura turned behind to see Sasuke standing there and he was coming towards her._

_Sakura's heart began to race as she noticed Sasuke getting closer to her._

_Sasuke stopped just in front of Sakura. She noticed that Sasuke never came that close to her._

"_I have to tell you something" Sasuke said in a serious yet calm voice._

_Sakura nodded vigorously._

"_I am in love" Sasuke with a dreamy voice._

_Sakura's face turned a dark shade of red on hearing this. Oh, how long she wished to hear these words from her Sasuke-kun. She prepared herself to hear those 3 magical words._

"…_with Ino" Sasuke finished in the most romantic voice he could muster._

_Suddenly all her hopes and future visions came crashing down over Sakura. All the dreamy looks from her eyes as well as blush on her face immediately vanished._

"_Huh?" Sakura couldn't believe her ears._

"_There she is" Sasuke said smiling looking past her shoulders_

_Sakura turned behind to see her arch-rival coming towards them._

"_Hey Sasuke-kun" Ino waved and was immediately pulled in arms of Sasuke Uchiha._

_Sakura was completely dumbfounded. Sasuke, who get irritated even the slight touch from a girl, was now openly hugging Ino and didn't let go for a few seconds._

_After they separated, Sasuke and Ino had blush on their faces._

_Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. Sasuke Uchiha was actually blushing!_

"_Sasuke-kun" Ino said in a sweet voice "Why did you called me here?" she looked at Sakura who was still watching the scene like a fish out of water "And what is she doing here?" Ino asked looking at Sakura with a frown._

"_Don't worry my love" Sasuke said to Ino "I just called her to clear some things so that she won't follow me any longer"_

"_You" Sasuke said to Sakura who came at full attention as she saw Sasuke turning to her "I want you to stay at least 10 feet away from me now onward. I don't want my girl to get upset because of you"_

_The way Sasuke said 'my girl' made Sakura's heart clench. All she wanted was to jump and pummel the platinum blonde hair girl who was looking lovingly at Sasuke._

_Sasuke once again turned towards Ino as he took her hands in his own._

"_Ino" Sasuke said in a husky voice "I want to tell you something important"_

_Ino nodded in happiness._

"_I have wanted this to tell you since the very first time I laid my eyes on you. But I guess this is the best moment for telling you"_

_Ino and Sakura felt their eyes widen as Sasuke went on his knees and pulled out a ring from his pocket and flashed it in front of Ino._

"_I love you Ino. Please marry me"_

_While Ino turned the darkest shade of red possible for any girl, Sakura felt her jaw hitting the floor._

_Ino stopped herself as some tears of joy slipped from her eyes. She just covered her mouth and vigorously nodded._

_Sasuke stood up smiling ear to ear and immediately enveloped Ino in a tight hug which she responded immediately._

"_Oh Sasuke, I can't believe I am so lucky" Ino said nuzzling her face in his chest "I love you too Sasuke-kun"_

_Sakura was just watching the whole scene like a helpless spectator. She wanted to run away trying to forget whatever she has seen or heard but her legs weren't obeying her. She saw both of them separating from the hug. It was when Sasuke's hand flew towards Ino's face, did Sakura realize what was coming next._

"_No no no no… not that not that" Sakura tried fervently to break their attention but both of them were too busy looking at each other that they never paid any attention to Sakura._

_Sasuke cupped Ino's face in her palms "God, you are so beautiful darling"_

_Ino looked shyly towards Sasuke who was now leaning forward. Ino too closed her eyes and leant forward to meet Sasuke's lip halfway._

_Just when their lips were a second apart from meeting, Sakura closed her eyes and shrieked in a high pitch._

_**Back to real world**_

Konohamaru flew backward as Sakura let out a monstrous shriek. Konohamaru was watching as Sakura zoned out a few minutes earlier making weird facial expressions. She made a surprised face first which turned into happy, shy, blushing, shocked, sad, crying, and angry followed by her monstrous shriek.

"What was that?" Konohamaru stood up and rubbed his head as he watched Sakura's demonic aura.

Konohamaru cowered as he saw Sakura glaring bullets into him.

"_Scary_" Konohamaru cowered in fear.

"Sasuke-kun is mine" Sakura said in a demonic voice to which Konohamaru nodded immediately out of fear.

Just on cue, Ino walked by noticing her rival and decided to tease her.

"Hey big forehead, what are you- "Ino stopped immediately as she saw Sakura turning towards her and had an evil aura around her.

Sakura was in front of Ino in a flash as she grabbed her collar and yelled "Sasuke-kun is all mine. I won't lose to you Ino pig"

Sakura turned towards Konohamaru "You follow me"

Sakura walked towards the market with a clueless Konohamaru following her.

A surprised Ino blinked a few times before asking herself "Ok, what was that?"

* * *

Finally after long and tiring hours of waiting, the librarian finally returned making Naruto and Sasuke relax.

"Ah, so the librarian-san is back at last" Kakashi said who mysteriously appeared as soon as the mission was completed.

"By the way, where is Sakura?" Kakashi said looking around.

"She already went home. She was not feeling well, so she had to leave early" Naruto replied stretching his body to get rid of the sleepy feeling.

Kakashi nodded "Ok, so now let's get going boys"

Naruto and Sasuke followed Kakashi to the counter.

"I remember you telling us that you will meet us tomorrow" Naruto said.

"I changed my mind" Kakashi said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Figures" Sasuke whispered as he went to the librarian to get his signature on the mission scroll.

While taking the signature of their client, Sasuke couldn't help but notice that the librarian was staring at him and Naruto.

"What?" Sasuke finally snapped.

"You are an Uchiha right?" the librarian asked him.

There it goes again. Sasuke readied himself for another shower of pities and affectionate glance from another person of the village. Sasuke completely hated this but he had to keep calm since the person in front of him is a client.

Sasuke nodded slightly.

"And you are an Uzumaki?" The librarian pointed at Naruto.

"Uh, yeah" Naruto had sort of similar thoughts to Sasuke about the person pitying him for getting kidnapped and tortured or lashing at him about the beast he is, but he managed to take it in a more positive way.

"Ah, an Uchiha and an Uzumaki teaming up… isn't that wonderful?" the librarian clapped his hands together.

Naruto and Sasuke sweat-dropped at the man's cheerfulness

"Yes, they are my adorable students. They are my best apprentices ever" Kakashi patted their heads affectionately.

Of course, leave it to Kakashi to over exaggerate things esp. when it involves irritating someone.

"I am sure of it" the man said "Now I think this might be an unusual request and you have every right to decline it" the man took out a camera from his drawer "but would you mind if I take a photo of you two standing together. This is such a rare moment. And I would love to capture it" the men looked at them expectantly.

Before Sasuke or Naruto could reject, Kakashi covered their mouth with his hands.

"Of course, they would love it" Kakashi said making both of them glare at their sensei.

"I am glad to hear it" the librarian said smiling as he called them out in front of the building.

Naruto and Sasuke stood 5 feet apart from each other both frowning and looking in opposite directions.

"Boys, behave" Kakashi said as he took the role of their instructor "Both of you come close to each other"

Kakashi ushered them to get closer and closer to each other until their shoulders were touching.

"Ok, now Naruto put your arm around Sasuke's shoulder"

Naruto glared at Kakashi but did it nonetheless.

"Sasuke do the same"

Sasuke too put his arm around Naruto's shoulder though with a glare much worse than Naruto.

"Now both of you smile" Kakashi motioned them with his hands.

Naruto and Sasuke managed to produce their version of painful smiles as the photo was clicked.

"Perfect" the librarian said "Now Kakashi-san, how about joining them?"

"Of course" Kakashi said as he skipped towards the duo and put a hand around their shoulders smiling as both boys were now scowling. Fortunately, the librarian didn't mind it as he clicked another photo.

"Now would you two please put your forehead protector like your sensei? It looks cool" the man requested.

With a sigh, Naruto and Sasuke slid their forehead protectors to cover their left eye making it look like an eye patch.

"Ah, that was wonderful. Thank you guys" the librarian bowed to them.

"Are you sure you don't want to take more photos?" Kakashi asked as Naruto and Sasuke glared dangerously at their sensei.

"No. this must be enough. I believe you have more important jobs waiting. So I won't prefer holding back you guys" the librarian said.

"Ok, but please make sure to send me the copies of the photos after you develop them" Kakashi said smiling.

"Ha-ha-ha… I will remember sending you the photos Kakashi-san" the librarian said as the three took their leave.

All 3 of them were silent for a while before Kakashi broke the silence.

"You were more obedient this time. I am planning to take our Team 7 group photo once again"

"No!" both boys yelled at once. In Team 7 photograph, both Naruto and Sasuke were looking away from each other with scowls on their face as Sakura was giving a very cheerful smile and Kakashi was giving his usual eye smile while patting Naruto and Sasuke on their heads.

They were silent once again and this time it was Sasuke who broke the silence.

"It's strange he didn't mention anything about…" Sasuke said more to himself.

"He came to this village 2 years ago. The village secrets are always kept from the newcomers, though I was hoping that he might have heard of the massacre" Kakashi said.

"What massacre?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing" Sasuke said.

Naruto sighed. He guessed this was something concerning Sasuke and he wasn't planning to pry into it. He will learn about it from books or records.

"Say Kakashi sensei" Naruto turned towards Kakashi.

"Hmm, what is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked. Naruto's face was showing a rare curiosity.

"Is my clan supposed to be famous?" Naruto asked "I mean he was surprised I belong to Uzumaki clan. I thought he might be curious about… you know what"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing" Naruto returned the reply.

Sasuke glared at Naruto before turning his focus to the road again "You are such a moron. You don't have any idea about your own clan"

Naruto didn't reply since Sasuke was right. He never gave much thought about his clan. Now he was curious as hell.

"Ok, looks like I need to tell you about your clan. So it's time for **Kakashi Sensei's Ninja Food for Thought.**

"Huh, what a weird title" Sasuke narrowed his eyes but was ignored.

"Ok, I don't know much but I think it would be sufficient" Kakashi said as a display board appeared magically in front of them with several maps and notes "The Uzumaki clan share distant blood relation with the famous Senju clan. The clan is famous for its Fūinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) among other things. This skill earned them both respect and fear throughout the ninja world. They originally resided in Uzushiogakure which was destroyed some years before Third Great Shinobi War, since many nations banded together to destroy the village because they considered the village to be a threat and it was also a big ally of Konoha. It was one of the biggest village destructions in the ninja history. The survivors of the destruction went into hiding and spread throughout the world"

Kakashi looked at his students who were listening closely. Even Sasuke was paying full attention.

"First Hokage and Fourth Hokage's wives were also Uzumaki" Kakashi said "and apparently Naruto's mother was also Uzumaki"

"I guess you are not telling me anymore about my parents" Naruto said as Kakashi nodded in reply.

"Uzumaki clan might be spread throughout the world. But on official records, only Naruto is the remaining Uzumaki" Kakashi said to which Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Alright enough talk about my clan. Now can we just go to Hokage Tower and collect the reward? I am already getting hungry" Naruto said as he walked ahead followed by Sasuke and Kakashi.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura and Konohamaru were sitting in one of the secluded places of the village where Sakura was sure that nobody will disturb them.

"Ok, so tell me whatever you know about that girl" Sakura said with a serious expression but instead Konohamaru had tears in his eyes.

"Um… what happened?" Sakura asked in a confused tone.

"I still can't believe you agreed to help me" Konohamaru said while wiping his unshed tears.

"_I can't tell him that I am doing this just so to prove myself that I am better than Ino when it comes to matters related to love and if I managed to complete this mission successfully, maybe Sasuke-kun will fall for me" _Sakura thought happily.

"Well, that was just because I took pity on you and I thought that you will just embarrass yourself in presence of that girl" Sakura tried her best not to show the giddy feeling on her face as Konohamaru illustrated a detailed description about how he met the girl.

"Hey Sakura-san, let's do something really cool" Konohamaru said with fire in his eyes "Something that would make me shine, something that will make her fall for me, something which-"

"Yeah ok, I get it. Now let me think of a plan" Sakura said already in her thinking pose "By the way, what is her name?"

Konohamaru had heart in his eyes as he spoke "Isamu-chan, my Isa-chan"

"_Too possessive" _Sakura remarked "What about her family?"

"Her father is one of the wealthiest merchants of the village. He is also one of the council members. Her brother works as an assistant to his father. Her mother is a Chunin rank ninja but was deprived of her duties on the condition that she swore secrecy to all the secrets of the village"

"And why are they leaving the village?" Sakura asked clearly interested.

"Her father wants to expand their business so they need to travel across many villages and countries. But he didn't wanted to leave without his family. So once her mother got the permission to leave the village, they are planning to leave the village tomorrow evening" Konohamaru concluded.

"Wow, you have done your research" Sakura said clearly impressed.

Konohamaru gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed his hand behind his head.

"Now, frankly speaking, impressing a girl in one day is really tough" Sakura said to which Konohamaru frowned.

"…but not impossible" Sakura finished and Konohamaru was once again cheered.

"I would really need help of more persons if we have to do this" Sakura said "Since no one else comes to mind, I have to somehow force Sasuke-kun and Naruto to cooperate"

"How? Boss said he can't help and Sasuke-san too was in denial about helping us" Konohamaru said.

"I think… I have a plan for that" Sakura grinned and Konohamaru didn't like this a bit.

* * *

_(The scenes will be rapidly switched for this conversation)_

Naruto was taking his much needed rest on his bed when he was disturbed by the rapid knocking on his door.

Naruto stretched his arms before standing up and walking to greet his visitor.

As he opened the door, he saw Konohamaru standing there.

"Konohamaru what are you doing here?" Naruto said rubbing his eyes "I have to go to sleep"

-XXX-

"This is Uchiha Compound. You can't enter this territory on your own free will unless you have permission from Hokage or an Elite Jonin" Sasuke said crossing his arm as he was disturbed from his dinner due to his persistent stalker teammate.

"It's important" Sakura said trying to ignore how tempted he is looking as she saw some of his dinner sticking to the corner of his lips.

"Hn, make it quick" Sasuke said crossing his arms.

"It's about that kid Konohamaru. Naruto and I have decided that we are helping that kid and I want your help too" Sakura said as Sasuke raised his eyebrow.

-XXX-

"So if you, that Teme and his fangirl had already formed your team, then what did you need me for?" Naruto asked his little apprentice.

"Come on boss, you know that you are really important for the mission" Konohamaru urged

-XXX-

"Hn, you Naruto and that midget can go and do all those romance things. I am not interested in these stupid things. Good night and all the best for your… love mission" Sasuke said as he prepared to close the door.

"Should have listened to Naruto" Sakura muttered loud enough for Sasuke to hear.

-XXX-

"What did you said?" Naruto said as he glared down at Konohamaru.

"Oh nothing special" Konohamaru acted as if he was trying to ignore Naruto's questioning look and it worked as Naruto's glare turned worse.

"What…did…Teme…said?" Naruto asked.

"_Good, it's working" _Konohamaru mentally cheered as he saw Naruto's curious face.

"He said that… you are not suitable for this job" Konohamaru replied as an anime vein popped up on Naruto's forehead.

-XXX-

"What the hell did he mean by that?" Sasuke asked gritting his teeth and left eye twitching.

"He said that you would just chicken out at the last moment since you don't have guts to face the females. You just get a hell lot of nervous when your fan-girls approach you and you just get broody because you are trying to hide your nervousness" Sakura felt extremely bad insulting her future husband but she had to be strong if she wanted to be a strong kunoichi.

Sasuke was literally fuming as he clawed at his door making scratches.

"That Dobe needs to learn a lesson" Sasuke said "I am coming"

"But you just said…" Sakura was happy but she had to check.

"Forget it" Sasuke said "Now this is a matter of Uchiha pride. And I would like to see his dumb face when I prove him that he is a loser"

"OK… meet at the academy gates in thirty minutes" Sakura said as she left Sasuke cursing his blonde teammate.

"Phew" Sakura sighed in relief "I hope Konohamaru too manages to convince Naruto"

-XXX-

"Say that again" Naruto said fuming in anger towards his brooding teammate.

Konohamaru sighed before he repeated what Sakura had told him to say "He said that you are too dense and a big moron when it comes to girls. With your sulking face, you would just scare the girls away. You are no good for this job. The only thing you are skilled at is licking ramen broth from the bowl. He also said that you are really perverted type" Konohamaru could see Naruto emitting a killer aura.

"You know what, I am coming. I will show him who is moron." Naruto said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Awesome" Konohamaru said "Meet us in front of the academy in 30 minutes"

Konohamaru left Naruto who now was now planning to smack his other male teammate the next time he see him.

* * *

Sakura was waiting for her little partner-in-crime when Konohamaru returned with a grin on his face that already answered the question Sakura was about to ask.

"So I presume Naruto is coming?" Sakura still needed to confirm.

"Yeah, though boss is really angry now" Konohamaru said.

"I guessed as much" Sakura said, for once, not in her fan-girl mode.

"Never thought she could be this smart" Konohamaru muttered under his breath.

"You said something?" Sakura looked at Konohamaru.

"Nothing" Konohamaru replied "Let's wait for Boss and Sasuke-san"

* * *

Sakura finally realized the mistake of her planning when Naruto and Sasuke arrived at the same moment and the first thing they did was glare at each other and kept glaring at each other without even blinking once. Both of them refused to back off until Sakura decided that it's getting too much and decided to bonk Naruto on his head.

"Ow, what the hell Sakura?" Naruto said while rubbing his head.

"That's for screwing around. If you messed up any longer, I will make sure that my next hit is even more painful" Sakura warned.

"_Bitch_" Naruto muttered while covering his injury

"Alright then" Sakura cleared her throat to gain the attention "I know that this is a really short notice for us, but we have to do our best to help our client" Sakura pointed towards Konohamaru who was looking intently towards Naruto and Sasuke "Now from what I have learned from Konohamaru, that girl is leaving at sunset tomorrow. So we have to do everything to make her last day in this village a special one"

"And make her fall in love with me" Konohamaru said raising a finger "I expect good results from you. Don't disappoint me"

"_Little bastard_" Naruto and Sasuke thought at same time, giving a quick glare to each other "_If it wasn't for this Dobe/Teme, I wouldn't even bother with this stupid mission_"

"So Haruno-san, what do you have in mind?" Konohamaru gave a curious look to Sakura

"Hmm…" Sakura begin to think "I think we should first pay a visit to this girl. I have to know what type of girl she is"

"I think I already told you about that" Konohamaru scrunched his eyebrows

"All you were doing was gushing over that girl '_Oh, she has mesmerizing eyes_', '_She has loveliest smile_', '_She has long beautiful hair_'…and blah blah blah" Sakura said mimicking his voice "That wasn't a least bit helpful"

Sakura then turned towards her teammates "We will follow Konohamaru to that girl's house and Konohamaru will make a small talk with her. After that, I will come up with the next course of action"

"And you Konohamaru" Sakura turned towards the little kid "On the way, I will give you some instructions about what you are going to talk about" Konohamaru gave a small nod "So any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes?" Sakura was a little happy that her teammate was taking interest.

"Who the hell made you the leader?" Naruto asked with a deadpanned face

"SHUT UP" Sakura growled

And the little respect she had for her blonde teammate was gone… just like that

* * *

"Uh, I think it's not a good idea" Konohamaru said as Sakura was listing the possible excuses Konohamaru could make for dropping by late at night.

"Huh, what do you mean it's not a good idea?" Sakura gave a confused look

"This" Konohamaru pointed at his yellow shirt where Sakura had stuck a red rose on the left breast pocket

"Why? What's wrong with that?" Sakura asked

"Nothing as long as her father or brother didn't notice it" Naruto said, hands behind his head "The moment they notice it, it's either his burial or we will be seeing girl's parents having 'the talk' with boy's grandfather"

"Gah!" Konohamaru clutched his face "If Grandpa heard of this, he will never shut up about this"

"Hn, you sound like he is some kind of lolicon" Sasuke said "I am sure he has a right to know about your love matters"

"No way" Konohamaru crossed his hands "Remember, this is supposed to be a top secret mission"

"Hm…" Naruto had an impatient look on his face "Now, can we please go to that girl's house and get it over with?"

"Boss! Can you please stop referring her as 'girl' already?" Konohamaru puffed his cheeks "Her name is Isamu… Isamu Kagetsu"

"Yeah yeah, I got it" Naruto said nonchalantly "Now let's just get moving"

"Alright" Konohamaru said as he skipped alongside Naruto "Let's do it"

"Hey, don't rush like that" Sakura shouted as she followed the duo

"I should have refused" Sasuke said to himself as he slowly followed his team members

* * *

**That brings an end to the twelfth chapter of the story. I hope you liked it.**

**As I might have mentioned before, English is not my first language so there may be some grammatical mistakes here and there. Please bear with it.**

**Next chapter we will see the conclusion to this arc. Will Konohamaru be able to express his feelings to Isamu? Or there will be a new problem?**

**I will do my best to bring the next chapter ASAP, but you may have to wait.**

**Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**P.S.****\- Anyone know when the next series in Naruto will be out?**


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